First Unitarian Church of Baltimore

09/09/2026

As we prepare for this Saturday's Church picnic in Druid Hill Park, we thought you might like to know about our church's historic connection to the park.

What’s First Unitarian’s historical connection to Druid Hill Park?
After Baltimore purchased the estate to establish Druid Hill Park in 1860, Rev. Ware utilized the expansive, beautiful grounds to host massive outdoor gatherings. Rev. John Fothergill Waterhouse (J. F. W.) Ware preached open-air sermons in Baltimore's Druid Hill Park during the Civil War era and the immediate Reconstruction years, specifically between 1864 and 1867. Historical accounts from the 19th-century text Men of Mark note that "thousands of all climes, tongues, colors and conditions" would gather at the park to hang on his words. He spoke simply and passionately on themes of noble living, high thinking, and devotion to the country.
Rev. Ware was a prominent Unitarian minister who moved to Baltimore in late 1864 to pastor the First Unitarian Church. During his time in the city, he became a driving force behind the Baltimore Association for the Moral and Educational Improvement of the Colored People, working fiercely to build schools and advocate for newly emancipated African Americans. He left in 1867 to become the minister of the Second Unitarian Church of Our Savior, a short-lived church in Baltimore, where he continued his outdoor ministry in the park until his departure in 1872.
Ware was the third generation of a family of Unitarian ministers after who the "Ware Lecture" at our General Assemblies is named.

08/29/2026

Through our FUCB member Karla Peterson, who works for Space Telescope Institute at JHU in Baltimore, we have learned that Nancy Grace Roman was a was member of our church at one time. Karla has been reporting daily from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida where she is awaiting the launch. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/194ydzEU13/

The next-generation Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, a bus-sized observatory that NASA has developed over nearly two decades, is designed to capture deep, panoramic views of the cosmos, aiming to reveal more than 100,000 planets around other stars, hundreds of millions of stars and billions of galaxies.

The telescope is named in honor of the woman who became NASA’s first chief of astronomy in 1959. Nancy Grace Roman, who died in 2018 at age 93, and earned the nickname “Mother of Hubble."

Roman will be able to survey the cosmos 1,000 times faster than Hubble, thereby mapping more of the sky than ever before, one scientist says.

The Roman telescope is scheduled to launch Sunday at 7:26 a.m. ET from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Read more: nbcnews.to/4qBrHQA

02/07/2026

IN-PERSON CHURCH SERVICE FOR FEBRUARY 8 HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

In an email to the Church community, Rev. Karyn Marsh communicated the following:

Due to the frigid temperatures, the heat in the scactuary is not working properly and the in-person service for tomorrow has been cancelled.

It's unfortunate becaue this service marks Founders Day, which includes a reception. But it will be too cold for anyone to enjoy.

Instead, we will be broadcasting via Zoom last year's Founders Day service. Please join us at 10:25 a.m via Zoom in the warmth of your home.

The title of the sermon is "What's in a Name? Unpacking Who We Are."

Worship services begin at 10:30 a.m.

Our Sunday Service Worship Zoom link is
https://zoom.u./j/362825176
or, Dial 1-646-558-8656

Our Worship Service Meeting ID is 362 825 176

On Zoom, please join us starting at 10:25 a.m.

02/06/2026

We will celebrate Founders Day on Sunday, February 8, 2026, during the worship service.

Founders Day is the day on which we commemorate the founding of the church by a group of Baltimoreans in Henry Payson’s home on February 10, 1817. February 10 is also the date the merger between The First Unitarian Church of Baltimore and The Second Universalist Society in the City of Baltimore was finalized in 1935, the day on which the name of church became “The First Unitarian Church of Baltimore (Universalist & Unitarian).”

During the worship service at 10:30 am on Sunday, February 8, we will commemorate the 209th anniversary of the founding of the church and the 91st anniversary of the merger between the Unitarians and the Universalists in Baltimore. Catherine Evans, Church Historian, will deliver a sermon on rising to meet our challenges and being good stewards of our church’s legacy entitled “At a Crossroads: What Would Jackie Do?

A reception will follow during coffee hour in the Enoch Pratt Parish Hall. All who can are asked to bring finger food contributions to this potluck-style event. In addition, we will need folks to help with set up and clean up afterwards. If you can help, please sign up on Perfect Potluck at www.PerfectPotluck.com/TTRH0869

11/17/2025

Time to put this event on your calendars!

Celebrate the return of the Sun
Winter Solstice Ritual
Sunday, December 21, 7-8 p.m.
First Unitarian Church
(Charles & Franklin Streets, Baltimore 21201)

Be still
honor the dark
light the New Year fire
turn the Wheel of the Year
enjoy songs, poetry, stories, ritual
taste the sweetness of life
bless the newborn babes
let the Sun warm
your heart

For more information visit www.firstunitarian.net
To register your babe (under 1 year old) for a blessing, email: [email protected] by December 17.

The ritual is being conducted by Patricia Montley, author of In Nature’s Honor: Myths and Rituals Celebrating the Earth, whose op-ed pieces on seasonal holidays have appeared in The Baltimore Sun.

11/06/2025

We Donated to Our Daily Bread!!!

First Unitarian Partnership

Hello members and friends. As you may know, the First Unitarian Church of Baltimore (FUCB) has partnered with Our Daily Bread for many years. Not only have we provided monetary donations to Our Daily Bread (ODB), FUCB has also purchased and collected non-perishable items to further provide for those in need.

On Sunday, October 26, 2025, FUCB donated the following items to ODB: 40-lbs of frozen chicken; 50-lb of rice; 5-gals of barbeque sauce; 5-lbs of tea and lemonade mix (each); and an assortment of pasta noodles from our congregants.

The items collected were delivered to Our Daily Bread and will be prepared by the staff on-site, and served to men, women and children.

FUCB will continue to support Our Daily Bread throughout the calendar year. Please keep an eye out for special holiday donation drives.

Thank you to all members and friends who contributed their gifts to this worthy cause.

For additional information regarding FUCB's partnership with Our Daily Bread, please contact the Chair, Tiffany Pimble, by emailing the church: [email protected].
Tiffany is on the right in the picture with our donation.

Resource: https://cc-md.org/ (Catholic Charities)

11/02/2025

On Saturday, October 25, 2025, First Unitarian Church of Baltimore participated once again in Doors Open Baltimore, a city-wide event of historic buildings. 5 tour guides and 3 greeters welcomed 174 visitors to our sanctuary in a four-hour period from 10 am - 2 pm. Our church was one of three locations featured in a photo essay of the event by photographer Carl Schmidt of Federal Hill Photography, LLC. Thanks to Carl and the Fishbowl for showcasing our beautiful and historic church and to all the visitors who came and learned about our church and its history.

During the citywide Doors Open Baltimore event this weekend, community members had the opportunity to tour and view areas of historic buildings that are not typically open to the public.

09/10/2025

Enoch Pratt was born today, September 10, in 1808. At First Unitarian, September is the month we remember our most eminent and stalwart member of First Unitarian, Enoch Pratt, as it is the month of both his birth and his death in 1896. In 2008, First Unitarian, along with the Enoch Pratt Free Library and the Maryland Historical Society, celebrated the bicentennial of Pratt’s birth with proclamations, celebrations, and the reissue of Pratt’s biography. Here at First Unitarian, we renamed and dedicated the Parish Hall—one of his gifts to the congregation—in his honor.
As Richard Hart observes in the beginning of his biography Enoch Pratt: The Story of a Plain Man, “To the end of his days he had an unshakable, though perhaps outmoded, prejudice in favor of giving honest value for what he received. The bulk of his fortune was employed for the good of his fellow citizens, rather than in idle display or in assuring leisure for his family’s descendents.” Further, he concludes, “In the evolution of Enoch Pratt’s character can be traced a developing strain of humanity and public spirit which in his later years broadened so that it became the guiding power of his life. When he came to Baltimore in 1831 his chief ambition was honest success in business. He grew with the city’s growth. His earlier benefactions prepared the way for the two great gifts [the library and hospital that bear his name] that marked the culmination of his career…In Enoch Pratt was found that rare combination of visionary and man of action which can accomplish a worthwhile end in the face of discouragement and misunderstanding.”
It would be difficult to overestimate Enoch Pratt’s importance to The First Unitarian Church of Baltimore where he was a member from 1831 until his death. He served on its Board of Trustees from 1848-1893, as Treasurer from 1842-1860 and as President from 1860-1893. He gave a number of substantial gifts, including the Pratt Parish Hall and the Henry Niemann organ in the sanctuary. During his time of service on the Board, he arranged a deal in which he took care of the Church’s debt and he modeled congregational investment in all aspects of church life by insisting that others who could supported the Church, as well. In addition, he gave generously to the Unitarian Seminary in Pennsylvania, Meadville Theological School (now called Meadville Lombard and located in Chicago).

Pictured is a bust of Enoch Pratt carved by his protege, sculptor Edwin Sheffield Bartholomew . It is in an alcove above the steps on the main staircase in the Central Enoch Pratt Free Library on Cathedral Street.

07/19/2025

FUCB’s Former Sexton, Anthony Wann Williams, to Receive Posthumous Honor from City Historical Society

Each year since 2002, the Baltimore City Historical Society (BCHS) has recognized individuals who exemplify the civic value of community involvement and enhancement. In 2025, the Baltimore City Historical Society has chosen to honor First Unitarian’s former sexton, Anthony Wann Williams, in its In Memoriam category. Anthony is being recognized as “a relentless advocate for the basic human and civil rights of poor and unhoused people, who was passionately committed to ending homelessness.”

The BCHS History Honors are presented in three categories: Historian/Scholar Honors - to persons who have published and are respected in the academic and professional community; Living History Honors - to persons whose lives exemplify the civic values of community involvement and enhancement; and In Memoriam - to deceased persons who deserve recognition for their special contribution to Baltimore history.

The announcement and presentation of the Honors will take place on Saturday, October 11, 2025, 1:00 to 3:30 pm at the Stony Run Friends Meetinghouse, located at 5116 N. Charles Street, 21210. Parking is available on site. The event is free and open to the public.

To see the BCHS notice of the Honor, go to its website at https://www.baltimorecityhistoricalsociety.org/in-memoriam-2. (If you reach the homepage, click on “Honors” and then In Memoriam.) Profiles of the honorees will also be featured on the BCHS FaceBook page Baltimore History-Baltimore City Historical Society.

Other individuals receiving BCHS History Honors in 2025 are Historian/Scholar: Antonia Hylton, Kara Mae Harris, and Baltimore’s Historic Laurel Cemetery Project; Living History: Ron Cassie, Fern Shen and Mark Reutter; and In Memoriam: Margaret L. Budd, Helena Hicks, Glenard (Glen) Middleton, and Betty Garman Robinson.

06/21/2025

In five days of tours of the First Unitarian Church of Baltimore during the General Assembly, we have welcomed MANY visitors. For those visitors, for our members, and for other followers of this page, we share these images of the exterior of the church: a drone shot featuring the roof and dome; the front facade; and a close-up of the Angel of Truth on the pediment. Architect Maximilian Godefroy's Neo-Classical masterpiece is a striking today as when it was when built in 1817-1818. Tours continue today 10a-1p and tomorrow (Sunday, 6/22) noon-2p. Otherwise, tours are offered on the first and third Sundays of every month after the worship service at approximately 11:45a.