Old Trinity Church - Dorchester Parish

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Woolford, MD
Old Trinity Church - Dorchester Parish

Join us for Sunday service at 11 am. The cemetery continues to be used as a burial place for the community and those drawn to the peaceful setting.

Built in the 17th century and perfectly restored in the 1950s, Old Trinity continues to house an active Episcopal congregation. Beautifully situated on Maryland's idyllic Eastern Shore along Church Creek, a tributary of the Little Choptank River, Old Trinity is one of the oldest churches in continuous use in the United States of America. Old Trinity is actively involved in the community through the South Dorchester Good Neighbor Project.

08/30/2026

Find rest, restoration, and community this morning. Join us at Old Trinity Church for our 11:00 AM Sunday service. Kids can join this morning for Sunday School in the parish hall at 11. We’d love to welcome you!

07/30/2026

Want to hear how this came about and the history behind it? Listen to this brief segment on WHCP. Thanks to Val Cavaleri WHCP - Cambridge Community Radio I Love Dorchester Heritage & TourismShip's Company ChanteymenDorchester County Historical SocietyShip's Company, Inc.Vienna, Maryland HandsellOld Trinity Church - Dorchester ParishSOUTH DORCHESTER MEMORIES Music on the Nanticoke Free Summer Concert Series

https://www.whcp.org/show/shore-stories/2026-07-27/battle-of-vienna

07/05/2026

Jesus tells us the greatest of all is love. A shared love and care is what makes Old Trinity a special church.

We want to extend a beautiful, heartfelt thank you to the quilting ministry at Wesleyan Emmanuel Church in Trappe. They lovingly crafted this beautiful healing quilt for us, creating a tangible blanket of comfort. Today, our congregation filled every space with personal messages of love, hope, comfort, and prayer for a beloved member who in need.

As this quilt wraps her in warmth, we lean on the promise of Psalm 46:10: "Be still, and know that I am God." Please continue to keep our dear friend in your prayers. 🕊️❤️

07/04/2026

AFTER CHURCH THIS SUNDAY - TOMORROW JULY 5, 2026 We're having a post-Independence Day BBQ! Hot dogs, hamburgers, and sides!

Join us for a time of food and fellowship in the parish hall after our 11:00 am Service.

06/07/2026

Father Dan was honored to preside over the service for Grace Episcopal Church today.

05/31/2026

As we commemorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, we do so here at Old Trinity Church through the celebration of Holy Communion according to the 1789 Book of Common Prayer-America's first Prayer Book, born out of revolution, uncertainty, and ecclesiastical reinvention. Authorized in the years following independence, it preserved the familiar cadence and structure of Anglican worship while adapting it to a republic no longer governed by crown or established church.

For American Anglicans, the Revolution created not merely a political crisis, but a theological one. The Church of England had long understood itself as both Protestant and Catholic: reformed according to Scripture, yet continuous with the ancient apostolic church through bishops, liturgy, and common prayer under the protection of the crown. With independence came the collapse of that framework. Prayers for the monarch disappeared because the monarch himself had disappeared from American life. What emerged instead was the Protestant Episcopal Church: an effort to preserve historic Anglican Christianity within a nation committed to religious liberty and the separation of church and state.

At the same time, the religious landscape of the young republic was rapidly changing.

Revivalist movements spread across the nation, particularly through Methodism, whose emotional preaching and accessible theology found fertile ground throughout the Delmarva Peninsula. America became a laboratory of religious experimentation and denominational competition unlike anything the old world had known.

In that environment, the Prayer Book became more than a guide to worship. It became an instrument of continuity. Its measured language, ancient structure, and sacramental vision anchored communities navigating a changing religious culture. The Episcopal Church no longer possessed establishment, but it retained memory, liturgy, apostolic order, and common prayer.

That continuity remains visible here at Old Trinity.

Standing beside the quiet waters of Church Creek, this parish has endured through revolution, disestablishment, civil war, revivalism, national transformation, and the cultural upheavals of modern America. Across generations, Christians have continued to gather within these brick walls to pray the prayers of the Book of Common Prayer.

The 1789 Prayer Book therefore stands as more than a historical artifact. It represents one of the defining achievements of early American Anglicanism: the preservation of a historic, liturgical, and episcopal Christianity within the conditions of a free republic.

In an age when old certainties had fallen away, it carried forward a vision of the Church that remained scriptural, catholic, and reformed-rooted not in political establishment, but in worship, sacrament, and common prayer.

05/30/2026

TOMORROW! Please join us for the Friends of Old Trinity Church (OTCA, Inc.) Annual Meeting & Luncheon on Trinity Sunday, May 31, 2026.

Join us at 11:00 AM for a historical 1789 Prayer Book Service. Father Dan will deliver a captivating address titled, “Revolution & Religious Crisis: Prayer Without a King.”

Following the service, please stay for a delicious luncheon catered by the wonderful Su***de Bridge Restaurant.

RSVP to [email protected].

05/29/2026

The annual luncheon of the FRIENDS of OLD TRINITY CHURCH, catered by Su***de Bridge Restaurant, will be held in Valliant Hall immediately following the historical service on Sunday, May 31.

Friends of Old Trinity Church Membership Fees:
$100 Lifetime Individual Membership (one-time)
$150 Lifetime Family Membership
$10 Annual Individual Membership (annual)
$25 Annual Family Membership

Contact the Rector ([email protected]) to inquire about membership in the FOTC.

05/28/2026

You are cordially invited to the Friends of Old Trinity Church (OTCA, Inc.) Annual Meeting & Luncheon on Trinity Sunday, May 31, 2026.

Join us at 11:00 AM for a historical 1789 Prayer Book Service. Father Dan will deliver a captivating address titled, “Revolution & Religious Crisis: Prayer Without a King.”

Following the service, please stay for a delicious luncheon catered by the wonderful Su***de Bridge Restaurant.

RSVP to [email protected].

05/26/2026

In Celebration of Our Nation's 250th Anniversary, on Trinity Sunday, May 31, we will mark the occasion of our nation's 250th Anniversary Year with a historic service featuring Holy Communion from the 1789 Book of Common Prayer -- America's FIRST Book of Common Prayer.

Fr. Dan's Address is entitled: "Revolution & Religious Crisis: Prayer Without a King," which will explore the theological and ecclesial crisis created by the American Revolution for colonial Anglicans, whose religious identity had long been intertwined with the British crown and the established Church of England.

The Revolution represented not merely a political rupture, but a profound disruption in how Anglican Christians understood continuity with the historic apostolic church. In the absence of monarchy and establishment, American Anglicans were forced to confront an unprecedented question: could a consciously Protestant and Episcopal Christianity survive without a king?

Address

1716 Taylors Island Road
Woolford, MD
21677

Opening Hours

11am - 1pm

Telephone

(410) 228-2940

Website

http://oldtrinity.net/

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