Western Md. church linked to slavery, Civil War

LAPPANS, Md. (AP) — A western Maryland church is inviting people to explore its historical connections to both slavery and the war that ended it.

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in the unincorporated community of Lappans in Washington County is dedicating two markers on Sunday. One commemorates the African-American slaves who were baptized, married and buried at the church.

The Rev. Anne Weatherholt says most of the families who founded the church 1849 were slaveholders.

The second marker recognizes the church’s use as a field hospital for soldiers wounded in the Civil War battles of Antietam and Gettysburg.

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