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St. John's Caretaker's House
7534 Bellona Avenue
Ruxton, Maryland
Baltimore County
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| Situated on a one-acre lot in Baltimore County,
off Bellona Avenue, St. John's Caretaker's House sits southwest
of St. John's Church, both buildings are surrounded
by the cemetery. The house is believed to have been built around
1835 when the original log church was built. |
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| The Caretaker’s House is a one-and-a-half story, stone,
gable-roofed building, measuring 20 feet wide by 18 feet deep,
with a 9 feet deep by 19 feet wide frame shed-roofed addition
at the rear. |
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Currently, two six-over-six-light, double-hung
sash windows flank the front door on the east wall, but the
original façade was only two bays. The original front
door aligned with the rear door in the northernmost bay,
but it was later converted into a window and a new door was
centrally inserted between these windows for the current
configuration. |
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| There are two attic windows, one in the north wall and
one in the south wall, as well as a rear door in the west
wall. |
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A staircase against the north wall allows access to the
attic. |
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| The rear addition, with a door in both the north and south
wall, accommodates the modern kitchen and bathroom. The interior
was gutted by fire in 1981 and was completely rebuilt later by
the Chesapeake Habitat for Humanity. The building is rented out
as a house for caretakers of the church property. |
| Beginning in the early-1980s, a non-profit foundation
(heavily coordinated by the Scott family) was established to
save the St. John’s Chapel. After seeking and receiving
financial grants from various organizations, including the Maryland
Historical Trust, and private donations, the foundation began
the “Restoration
and Preservation of Historic St. John’s Church, Ruxton” project
with $108,000 in funds. In 1982, the church was listed on the
National Register for Historic Places. Charlie Tipper was hired
in 1982, to restore the interior back wall, stabilize the foundation,
repair the stained glass windows, and bring the original paint
color scheme back to the building; all with a $5000 budget and
a year to complete the work. Around the same time, the parsonage
began its immediate and necessary transformation by the efforts
of Hugh Andrews, who completed the framing and roofing work for
$50,000. Currently, both buildings are fairly stabilized, with
future concerns to replace the roof on the chapel. St. John’s
Church is occasionally open to the public, for special events
like weddings and Christmas caroling, which generate funding
for the maintenance income of the chapel. (Holechek 2003, 67-71) |
| Contact Person: Peter Kurtze (410) 514-7649 |
| Holechek, Jim. Two Cross Keys Villages: One Black, One White...and
the Leaders Who Created the World Around Them. New York: Universe,
Inc.: 2003. |
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