The construction of Christ Episcopal Church, financed by Eleanor Hall McCaleb Burwell as a memorial to two of her children, James and Annie McCaleb, was begun in 1867 and consecrated in 1869. The blueprint of the structure was taken from a 19th century sketchbook by architect Richard Upjohn. The unique style of “Carpenter Gothic” architecture is now considered to be the finest example of its type on the east coast.
Christ Episcopal Church is listed in the Maryland Register of Historic Sites and Buildings with the U.S. Department of the Interior. An account of Christ Church would be incomplete without mention of the Church yard, which frames it on three sides and gives the appearance of a wooded hillside that has been tended with gentle consideration for the purpose it serves.
To walk through Christ Church cemetery is to walk through the history of this West River community and the nation. Near the east window of the church can be seen the graves of Eleanor Hall McCaleb Burwell and her husband, Dr. Burwell. Next to these graves are those of the McCaleb children. The inscription on Eleanor’s stone: “I have finished the work thou hast sent me to do.” Several members of Christ Church went off to defend the Confederacy during the Civil War which raged between 1861-1865. One who fell at Gettysburg, Capt. William H. Murray, is buried directly outside the Sunday School building. Veterans of World Wars I and II, Korea, and the Vietnam Conflict are also buried here. Each lot brings back the picture of a family whose life span was incorporated into the total story of Christ Church and the West River neighborhood.
