Gunpowder Meeting House (18HA253)

The Gunpowder Meeting House (18HA253) represents the site of a standing Methodist meeting house located on the Aberdeen Proving Ground. The structure was built around 1840 and probably replaced an earlier structure on the site, since the property was sold in 1773 to establish a meeting house. Francis Asbury was known to have preached in the original meeting house upon a number of occasions. The church was sold in 1890 and was an African American school and church for 29 years, until the site was acquired by the Harford County Board of Education, who sold it to the U.S. Government in 1919 for the establishment of the Abderdeen Proving Ground.

Goodwin and Associates conducted Phases I and II archaeological work at the site in 1998. A total of 58 shovel test pits on a 3 m grid and 3 1x1 m units were placed at the site. Shovel testing and unit excavation at the Gunpowder Meeting House identified and evaluated late 18th- through late 19th-century resources associated with the standing religious structure. Of the 126 historical artifacts recovered, 87 were found in sub-fill strata and primarily relate to architecture and kitchen functions. This archeological site is characterized by a relatively low-density scatter of cultural material in an area earlier subjected to grading and filling. No cultural features beyond the foundation of the standing building were evident. Test units showed that the area had been stripped of its topsoil sometime around World War II and a layer of coal slag and fill were put around the structure to increase drainage away from it. Due to an improved road and railroad berm, the structure now sits in a depressed area.

Due to a lack of both physical integrity and important research potential, the site is considered ineligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

(Edited from archeological site survey form, Maryland Historical Trust, by Patricia Samford)