Abby Epplett, Historian

On the same day I walked through National Park Seminary , I visited two vastly different religious buildings in Silver Spring, MD. I visited the massive Washington DC Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (formerly called Mormons) and the much smaller Knox Orthodox Presbyterian Church . I enjoyed meeting the people at both locations and comparing the differences between faiths.

In July, I visited Washington, DC and saw an astonishing range of historic sites. On the first day in the area, I visited Museum of the Bible, which took an entire day of exploring. The next day, I traveled to Silver Spring, MD, which has many hidden history gems. My first stop was National Park Seminary , a historic district in the village of Forest Glen, to see unique architecture. Despite its name, the site is not associated with the National Park System and has instead been transformed from a resort to a women’s college to an army medical facility to residential housing. With plenty of informational signage and easy walking, this was a pleasant visit.

This is the third of three posts in a miniseries about my visit to the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC, which I visited back in July with my friend Jenny. During the first post , I talked about several high-tech interactives and a few historic Bibles. During the second post , I showed more of the same, along with impressive reproductions, in sections known as “Bible in America” and “The History of the Bible”. For this post, I will finish up “The History of the Bible”, describe a fascinating exhibit about translation, and talk about a few others must-see stops before giving my conclusion.

This is the second of three posts on my trip to the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., which I visited with my friend Jenny back in July. During the first post , I talked about several high-tech interactives and a few historic Bibles. In this section, I show more of the same, along with impressive reproductions, in sections known as “Bible in America” and “The History of the Bible”. Since this fits nowhere else, I want to note the creative names giving to the three different dining experiences at the museum: Milk+Honey Cafe, Manna Restaurant, and Creations Cafe; Jenny and I packed our lunch.

This post begins a series that will take us to the end of the year: my trip to Washington, D.C. to visit my friend (and body double?) Jenny, learn even more about American history, and walk long miles around the nation’s capital. My first stop in Washington was the Museum of the Bible , a massive collection of Bibles and Christian publications on display in a state-of-the-art facility. While marketing towards a Christian audience, the museum does an excellent job of navigating the heterodoxy of the religion, a fancy way of saying that Christians have a wide range of beliefs, some of which conflict with each other. The museum has been open since 2017 and regularly hosts new exhibits, along with collaborating with other organizations. I will preface this three-part review by saying if you are an American Christian, or if you want to better understand the mindset of American Christians, this is the best one-stop source to comprehend the culture.