Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, Collington, Bowie, stands on a hill overlooking Annapolis Road (Route 450), one mile west of Collington Road (Route 197), and just a few feet west of the limits of the City of Bowie, the second largest city in the state of Maryland.

 

When the early settlers residing in Collington Hundred first journeyed to this rise to praise God is not known.  It is known that Mareen DuVal, an educated devout French Huguenot, entered the Maryland colony during the 1650s and obtained various tracts of land in Darnall’s Grove, in what was then part of Calvert County. On St. George’s Day, 1696, that portion of Calvert County became Prince George’s County.  Tradition has it that Mareen DuVal established a Chapel for worship on that part of his plantation where now stands Holy Trinity Church.  In 1692, the Provincial Council divided the Province of Maryland into 30 parishes.  One of these parishes was St. Paul’s at Baden.  Divine services were held there as early as 1682.  We find the roots of Holy Trinity in that early congregation.

 

In 1704, St. Paul’s Parish was divided.  The northern part became known as Queen Anne’s Parish, with its Parish Church, St. Barnabas, located at Leeland.  The widow of Mareen DuVal and his son John donated four acres of land to Queen Anne’s Parish, April 27, 1705.  This land located in the northern part of the Parish, was to be the site of a Chapel of Ease for the use of the parishioners in that portion of the Parish. Reference to this Chapel is contained in a deed from Jacob Henderson, Rector of Queen Anne’s Parish, to James MacGill. This deed, dated December 27, 1738, conveys 400 acres of land in Darnall’s Grove, known as the Glebe. It reserves from its operation four acres of land upon which stood the Chapel of Ease mentioned in the deed from John Duval and Mary DuVal Ridgely. Jacob Henderson, the second Rector of Queen Anne’s Parish (1718-1751), married Mary DuVal Ridgely in 1712.  She died in the year 1735 and her remains are buried under the present Holy Trinity Church.

 

The present Rectory was built between the years 1823 and 1829, while the Rev. Stephen T. Tyng was the Rector of Queen Anne’s Parish.  In 1836, an ad was placed in the Washington paper for a mason to build here a plain brick church 40 by 50.  In that same year, construction of the present Church was begun.  It was consecrated March 29, 1842, as the Chapel of the Holy Trinity by Bishop William R. Whittingham.

 

The Parish of Holy Trinity was created by the division of Queen Anne’s Parish in 1844, by a resolution of the Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Diocese of Maryland.  Application for this separation had been made by the parishioners who asked that Holy Trinity Parish be created with the following metes and bounds: “Beginning at Boyd’s Mill on the Patuxent River and thence south to the main road from Bladensburg to Queen Anne intersecting the said road at Colonel Wooton’s Gate adjoining the field of James Mullikin; thence to Mitchell’s Blacksmith Shop and then to Lott’s Ford, thence to Bacon’s Shop where the Annapolis Road intersects the Bladensburg Road, thence in a direct line to bisect Queen Anne’s Parish and the northern part of the same to be known as the Holy Trinity Parish.”

The first congregational meeting was held July 1, 1844.  This meeting elected the first vestry.  George W. Duvall and Robert Bowie were chosen Church Wardens. At a meeting of the vestry held November 3, 1844, the Rev. H.S. Keppler was unanimously elected the first Rector of the Parish.  It was agreed that he would take charge of this responsibility January 1, 1845, and that his salary would be $550.00 a year.  Mr. Keppler served until 1848, and was followed by the Rev. Owen P. Thackara, who served until 1851. December 12, 1851, the Rev. Harvey Stanley was elected Rector.  He preached his first sermon on the first Sunday in January 1852, and remained Rector for thirty-three years, until he died, Sunday morning, January 27, 1885.  He was Rector during the years of the Civil War when famine, death, pestilence and war were riding up and down the valleys and over the hills of Southern Maryland.

 

The Chapels of St. George’s, Glenn Dale, and St. James’ in Bowie, begun by the people of this Parish in 1873 and 1886 respectively, were separated from the Parish in 1958, after which the Rev. Philip R. Baxter became Rector of Holy Trinity until 1967.  Under his leadership, the Parish Hall was built in 1961.  In 1964, the Holy Trinity Episcopal Day School began with preschool classes in the Parish Hall.  By 1968, the Day School included kindergarten through sixth grade classes.  The education wing was also added to the Parish Hall in 1968.  Rev. Charles L. Taylor was rector from 1968-1973. Under Rector D. Thomas Andrews, who came in 1974, two additions were added to the Parish Hall as the Day School expanded.  In 1999, a second campus was established on Daisy Lane in Glenn Dale to accommodate the middle school and preschool.  In 2006, after 32 years of devoted service as Rector of the Parish and Chaplain of the Day School, Rev. Tom Andrews retired.

 

Today, under the rectorship of the Rev. Leslie M. St. Louis, who was installed in June 2008, our Parish is responding to continued growth around us, welcoming everyone with love, care, and support as we are empowered by the Holy Spirit and she inspires us to use our gifts.

 

--As prepared by Parishioner, Mary Yuhas (2013).