Three Sisters: Close Knit Communities of the Laurel Area

Three Sisters: Close Knit Communities of the Laurel Area. . , Other enclaves of African American ironworkers in the Laurel area include Bacontown and the Grove. Bacontown was named for Maria Bacon, a former slave freed in 1860. In 1880, the plot of land she inherited from Achsah Dorsey, her former owner, became the basis for the Bacontown community. The Grove was the home of St. Mark's United Methodist Episcopal Church, which for several years shared a pastor with Queens Chapel United Methodist Episcopal Church. Snowden heirs, Elizabeth and Mary Jenkins, donated the land for St. Mark's to the community., Children from all three communities attended the Muirkirk Freedmen's Bureau School. The school taught white pupils in the morning and African American students in the afternoon. Abraham Hall opened its doors to residents of Rossville, Bacontown and the rove. The same spirit of community and cooperation inspired the Grove's annual Emancipation Day celebration that was sponsored not only by St. Mark's Church but also by the Benevolent Sons and Daughters of Abraham and other fraternal organizations., These institutions and activities helped to foster a larger community spirit among African Americans in Laurel that continued to flourish even after the Ironworks closed in 1920. The Muirkirk Ironworks were eventually converted to a paint factory that made use of iron ore for paint pigment. Many former ironworkers found jobs at the factory, at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center or with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.