Photo credit:
Peter Kurtze, 02/2017
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Starr Church
Inventory No.:
QA-367
Other Name(s):
Starr United Methodist Church, Richard Asbury M.E. Church, Old Starr Methodist Church
Date Listed:
3/1/2024
Location:
1504 Starr Road (MD 309), Centreville, Queen Annes County
Category:
Building
Period/Date of Construction:
1860-1929
Boundary Description:
The boundaries are described among the Land Records of Queen Anne’s County in Liber SM00567, folio 00771.
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Description:
Starr Church is a ca. 1860 frame meetinghouse that faces northeast to Starr Road (MD Route 309) in the crossroads village of Starr, southeast of Centreville in Queen Anne’s County, Maryland. The church exemplifies the Greek Revival influence, popular among Methodist congregations on the Eastern Shore region during the mid-19th century. It is a gable-front building, three bays wide by three bays deep. A secondary entrance at the east end of the southeast elevation provides access to the gallery. The interior retains a high degree of integrity, with original finishes intact; remnants of a ca. 1882 fresco decoration survive in the gallery. Also on the property is a frame church hall which was originally a schoolhouse and was moved to this site between 1927 and 1929.
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Significance:
Dedicated in 1860, Starr Church is significant under Criterion C as an exceptionally well-preserved example of the vernacular Greek Revival style of ecclesiastical architecture that characterized many rural churches in the mid-19th century throughout Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Starr Church is unique in that it retains a segregated side entrance for free and enslaved African American members to access the gallery; it is one of two known churches to retain this feature in Queen Anne’s County. The ceiling and walls of the gallery retain elaborate fresco decoration from an 1882 remodeling. The period of significance, 1860-1929, is supported through the architectural changes the property underwent to support the growth of Starr Church’s religious mission.
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