Worship with us in the peaceful serenity and beautiful surroundings of Patapsco Valley State Park.
Gary Memorial United Methodist Church is an historic stone church set on a hill surrounded by Patapsco Valley State Park. Our worship is essentially traditional, but we welcome the changes which are an inevitable result of the Spirit at work in our midst. We are united by love. Your presence will change us, and we look forward to how you will help us to live into God’s vision of shalom in our world.
WORSHIP SERVICE IS HELD SUNDAYS AT 11:30 AM
All are invited and welcome …
No matter what you have done; No matter what you have failed to do;
No matter who you love or who you have failed to love.
Whether you are here to be joyful, whether you are here to mourn,
Or whether you are here and not sure why;
God welcomes YOU to this place. Welcomes us ALL, and calls us by name.
OUR FACILTY IS FULLY ACCESSIBLE. Can’t Make it in person? Watch our service Live HERE
Gary Memorial Featured in Howard County Historical Society’s Legacy Newsletter
The following article written by Victoria Goodman was featured in the Summer issue of the Historical Society’s Membership newsletter.
GARY MEMORIAL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH—A STALWART GUARDIAN OF A MILL TOWN’S PAST
High atop a hill overlooking the Patapsco River the historic Gary Memorial United Methodist Church stands vigil still over the remnants of the once thriving mill town of Daniels. The last remaining intact vestige of the town’s working-class community, the granite church on Standfast Hill, bears witness to the passage of time and a dwindling congregation now struggling to keep its doors open.
Notable both historically and architecturally, Gary Memorial United Methodist Church is one of Howard County’s finest landmarks. Built in 1879 by James Albert Gary as a memorial to his father who acquired the mill town’s manufacturing company in 1858, the church was one of four that once served the people of the now extinct village.
The church is integral within Howard County’s history and its structure is notable for its eclectic late nineteenth century architectural features that blend local granite block with Gothic Revival and Medieval French styles. Fine brick work can be found throughout, and its beautiful, unpretentious interior harkens to a simpler place and time. Many of the town’s early residents rest in an adjoining graveyard dotted by memorial markers– some intact, others deteriorating, some lost to time and vandalism.
Gary Memorial’s sturdy wooden pews were once filled to capacity but now seat only a few each Sunday, including former County Executive Jim Robey and his wife Janet. Having survived the town’s demise in 1968 and the devasting 1972 flood unscathed, the church’s future is fragile. Even though the spirit of its small congregation is as steadfast as the hill it stands on, without an influx of new parishioners and additional revenue the stalwart guardian of the mill town’s past may soon become a memory.
Gary Memorial United Methodist Church is located at 2029 Daniels Road. All are welcome to worship within its historic place of prayer set in the peaceful serenity and beautiful surroundings of Patapsco Valley State Park. Sunday service is held each week at 11:30 am.
You can learn more at garymemorialumchurch.org.

photo courtesy Advanced Aerial Imaging Concepts