Bell Tower At Historic Joppatowne Church To Be Reconstructed

JOPPATOWNE, MD — The restoration of one of Harford County's oldest African American church's bell tower has turned into a reconstruction project after it was discovered that the structure was pulling away from the building and had experienced considerable damage over the years.

Historic Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, located at 1915 Singer Road, is part of McComas Village Historic District and dates back to 1865. Harford County designated the village as a historic district in 2023.

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In 1867, the founders of Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, including Rev. Peter Bishop, partnered with Harford County abolitionist, George March McComas, and the United States Freedmen's Bureau to found and construct the McComas Institute, also known as Mountain School. McComas Institute was built two years following the establishment of the U.S. Freedmen's Bureau, according to Hosanna Community House.​

In 2017, Hosanna Community House, Inc. purchased the Mt. Zion church building to save it from a tax sale and to ensure that its historical role in the development of McComas Institute would be preserved.

"According to a church history written in 1959 ... the current Mt. Zion Church building was constructed when the congregation outgrew an earlier building. The bell tower was added several years after completion of the current church building," Matthew Button, public information officer for Harford County, told Patch.

The project is partially funded by a Harford County African American Heritage Grant, Button added. Mt. Zion was part of the Gunpowder Circuit of the United Methodist Church, founded in 1864, which established and maintained a Black governing board and Black preachers and pastors who traveled between all included churches.

In early 2025, the Harford County Historic Preservation Commission unanimously approved a Certificate of Appropriateness for the owner's plan to deconstruct and reconstruct the bell tower.

By November 2025, workers had removed the church's asbestos-shingle siding and opened up the interior of the bell tower. County preservation staff reported that the tower appears to have been added sometime after the original church was constructed, because the church's old wood lap siding continues behind the tower.

The contractor recommended dismantling the tower and rebuilding it while salvaging as much historic material as possible. A new Certificate of Appropriateness had to be issued, which was approved by the Harford County Historic Preservation Commission at its December 2025 meeting.

According to meeting documents, moisture had become trapped between the concrete entrance steps and the tower's wooden sill plate. The deterioration became so extensive that the tower's weight had crushed portions of the wooden sill, causing the bell tower to pull away from the church. County preservation staff said the structure was so compromised that the bell could no longer be safely accessed.

The Harford County Historic Preservation Commission unanimously approved a reconstruction plan that calls for dismantling the existing tower and concrete steps but saving historic stone, siding, windows and louvers where possible. Workers also were directed to save two date stones — 1865 and 1916 — that had been incorporated into the concrete steps.

The reconstruction project calls for a new concrete foundation built to modern standards, which will then be faced with stone salvaged from the existing foundation. New mortar is supposed to match the historic mortar. The tower itself will receive new wood framing and roofing while retaining the dimensions and appearance of the existing tower, according to committee meeting minutes.

But the project isn't quite as simple as it seems, considering the structure is historic and preservation takes precedence. Salvaged siding should be marked according to which side of the tower it came from, then prepared, primed and reinstalled.

Historic windows are to be removed and restored off-site, with the frames repaired and the glass reglazed before the windows are returned to their original locations. The main and side entrance doors are to be replaced in kind.

The historic preservation committee has the bell tower project listed on its October meeting agenda.