Barratt's Chapel was erected on land deeded by Col. Philip Barratt in August 1780. Here Thomas Coke, D.D., representative of John Wesley, preached on November 14, 1784, administering the Sacrament of Holy Communion for the first time by a Methodist in America. With Francis Asbury he planned the organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church, calling the first conference to meet at Baltimore on December 24, 1784.