The congregation is known as the "Mother Church of
American Methodism." The original
Lovely Lane Chapel or
Meeting House was the scene of the December 1784 "
Christmas Conference", at which the
Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States was founded and
Francis Asbury and
Thomas Coke were ordained as its first
bishops. The plain original chapel on Lovely Lane, off German (now Redwood) Street, between
South Calvert Street and South Street in the city's waterfront district, was abandoned in 1786 and demolished. It was replaced (first) by an elaborate beaux-arts structure of the Merchants Club, and now the building contains a restaurant as well as offices and teaching space used by
Chesapeake Shakespeare Company. ==Gallery==