When a Catholic family decided to start a church just off the Route 1 corridor in the early 1700s, they had to be secretive about it.

Maryland’s landmark religious freedom law had been repealed in 1692, and the public practice of Catholicism barred. By 1718, Catholics weren’t even allowed to vote in the colony.

So when Marsham Queen decided to build a small Catholic church near his home in what is now Woodridge, family tradition holds that he disguised it to look like a smokehouse.

The church was burned, apparently by accident, during the Revolutionary War. It was rebuilt, but burned down again by British soldiers during the War of 1812 as they marched toward Washington after the Battle of Bladensburg. After being rebuilt, it was again burned down by Union soldiers in the Civil War.

This time, it wasn’t rebuilt until 1908, when it was renamed for St. Francis de Sales — an appropriate choice since he was known for his gentle approach to the violent divisions between Catholics and Protestants.

In 1927, the congregation moved St. Francis de Sales to its current location at 2015 Rhode Island Ave. NE, where today it boasts of being the oldest continuous congregation in D.C.

The site of the original church is now part of Langdon Elementary at 1900 Evarts St. NE, but its name lives on in a Hyattsville neighborhood known as Queens Chapel Manor and the road that runs through it and University Park.

To read more on the history of Queen’s Chapel and Marsham Queen, click here.

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