Rockville Baptist Church and Cemetery
In 1823, the deacons of the Bethel Baptist Church church acquired a half-acre lot at this site to erect a church and provide a burial ground. The original church was replaced in 1864, but a half century later, the Baptists demolished it and built a larger church and a parsonage at the corner of South Washington and West Jefferson Streets. The cemetery remained and was enclosed with an iron fence. The church conveyed the cemetery to the Montgomery County Historical Society in 1973, and title was transferred to Peerless Rockville for caretaking in 1983. Peerless Rockville has added benches and a picket fence.
Gravestones in the cemetery date between 1839 and 1896. Late 19th century development of the West End and the opening of South Van Buren Street necessitated relocation of 16 graves to the Rockville Cemetery. Twenty-eight marble and sandstone grave markers remain.
Several persons notable in Rockville's history are buried here. Samuel Clark Veirs was postmaster of Rockville and Chief Judge of the Orphan's Court. He also operated Veirs Mill. Veirs' son-in-law, William Veirs Bouic, Jr. was a judge, farmer, State's Attorney, president of Rockville's Board of Commissioners, organizer of the Montgomery County Agricultural Society, trustee of the Rockville Academy, and a director of the C & O Canal Company.
Marker is at the intersection of West Jefferson Street (Maryland Route 28) and West Montgomery Avenue, on the left when traveling east on West Jefferson Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
