Oldest black church in the county, Sharp Street United Methodist Church opened in 1822 in a log cabin on land conveyed by Thomas L. and Sophia Brooke "as a place for interment of the dead and for erecting a house of worship." The present building was erected in 1923 and has since been enlarged and renovated. Long an educational as well as religious institution, Sharp Street in 1908 collaborated with Sandy Spring Friends to run the renowned Maryland Normal and Agricultural School, which taught not only the 'three Rs' but cooking, sewing, dressmaking, millinery, housekeeping, laundering, agriculture, gardening, painting, blacksmithing, wheelwrighting, shoemaking, and harness repairing. Standing before the church above are Geneva Claggett of Ashton, left, and a visiting African family.