This log meetinghouse served as
the first site of the Yough Glades
Sabbath School.
Isaac and Ann McCarty started the first Methodist preaching house (1824) and Sunday School (1829) in the Oakland Maryland area on their farm.
As the oldest living member of the congregation when the new church was built in 1891, Ralph Thayer was given the honor of naming it. He chose "St. Paul's."
This edifice served as the church from 1891 until the present structure was constructed in 1935
The wood-carved reredos was placed behind the altar when the present structure was completed in 1935. The words at the top reflect the Apostle Paul's commission in Acts 22:15: "Thou Shalt Be His Witness Unto All."
The History of the St. Paul's UMC Schantz Pipe Organ
The pipe organ at St. Paul's UMC was designed and manufactured by the Schantz Organ Company of Orrville Ohio, a firm established in 1873. It took approximately 110 individuals to build our custom designed pipe organ.
Schantz pipe organs vary from a modest size to large cathedral organs whose replacement value today would be in excess of a half-million dollars.
The Schantz pipe organ of St. Paul's contains 21 ranks of pipes representing a variety of sounds and different pitches. There are 1.283 individual pipes ranging in size from a total length of approximately 10 feet to very high-pitched pipes barely the size of an ordinary lead pencil. Read more and see more photos of our organ
