The last two days have taken us from Baltimore, MD, through Delaware and into Pennsylvania. We have enjoyed the scenery, the people and the places we have visited. The trip continues to be one of unexpected, but mostly pleasant surprises.

Friday, September 12, 2025: Our first stop after leaving Baltimore was the site of Cokesbury College. Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke founded the college in 1785, but it burned down in 1795. A chapel built after the school opened survived the fire and exists today as Cokesbury Memorial United Methodist Church. The area where the college sat was taken over by the church and is now part of their cemetery. There are four corner markers within the headstones that denote the four corners of the college. I paced off the distances and came up with a building that was 120’ x 48’. The fire was most likely arson. Bonnie (who we met at the Lovely Lane museum) wrote her undergrad thesis on Who Burned Cokesbury College? – her conclusion is that it was James O’Kelly, who led an early schism in the American Methodist Church who burned the college. Photos above show a plaque noting the college, one of the corner stones and a bronze model of what the college looked like (first row). In the second row are photos of the church and its plaque. We weren’t able to see the inside of the church, but there were two groundkeepers there that were mowing the well-kept cemetery. One of them was a member of Cokesbury Memorial, but admitted to having become a lax member. I gave them a Prologue and invited both to attend church this Sunday.

We traveled through Cecil County, MD, crossed into Delaware and stopped at Smyrna, DE to visit Asbury UMC. Asbury held a conference in Smyrna on May 10, 1791, where he ordained two elders and three deacons. I suspected that Asbury church was closely connected with that 1791 conference. No one came to the door, the office phone rang and rang when I called it, only to be routed to voicemail. I was looking through windows out front and realized there was a courtyard in the middle of the structure and I could see people moving around in the part of the building on the other side of the courtyard. We found a way around back to their main parking area and interrupted a group of folks who were busy setting up their weekly food pantry. The first person who greeted us was Susan. Let me tell you… Susan is a go-getter. I explained who we were and that I suspected Asbury Church was a descendant church of Methodism at Smyrna at the time Asbury held conference there. Susan nodded her head and corrected me… Asbury Church was THE church where that conference was held… in their original church building across the road from their parking lot (the space is now a cemetery for the church). Susan gave us a tour, and copied many pages from an extensive history of Asbury UMC for me to take. It affirms that Asbury held conference there in 1791. An historical marker stands at the corner of the lot where the original building stood.

We traveled through several other stops in Delaware, then crossed the Delaware river into Pennsylvania, where we settled in at Philadelphia for two nights.

Saturday, September 13, 2025: We began the day at St. George’s UMC. Once again, Google Maps disappointed us by listing the museum as being open – that is not the case, it is only open to prearranged tours, not the general public. By this point in our journey, I’ve learned to not give up… so I rang the doorbell and was greeted by woman who thought we were there for Lay Minister training. After a short conversation, we were on the same page, and Pastor Bill Wilson walked into the room. Bill gave us a personal tour of the church, the renovations that are currently taking place (this is what temporarily closed the museum to the public), and shared many historical facts about St. George’s and Asbury. Bill is a retired elder on the New Jersey conference, who was asked to serve St. George’s in retirement. I give thanks for the hospitality afforded us by Pastor Bill, we will be worshipping at St. George’s Sunday morning.

From St. George’s we traveled to Mother Bethel AME Church. I was told they had an excellent museum. It appeared that some event was getting ready to take place. When I asked about touring the church, I was told to come back after worship Sunday and I could have free tour. Maybe I talked to the wrong person… but something didn’t sit well with me to be invited to comeback *after* worship… why not invite me to worship?

We spent the rest of the afternoon visiting the Liberty Bell, Benjamin Franklin’s grave and just walking around amidst this history birthing place. After worship Sunday, we will head to New Rochelle, NY – and visit some sites in New Jersey along the way.

Peace,
-Pastor Tim