Grounds and Gardens

The campus at Woods Church is filled with native plants, beautiful flowers, and an abundance of history. With humble beginnings, Woods Church was once known as the, "little church on the hill!"


Right in the heart of Severna Park, our Grounds and Gardens are now home to Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church, Severna Park Community Center, the Woods Child Development Center, and the Woods Counseling and Care Center. We seek to continue to work with our surrounding organizations to enrich the lives of those in our community and beyond.


The Property Ministry at our church is continually working toward improving our environmental stewardship of both the buildings and grounds. Our Gardening Ministry serves God through caring for Creation: All things, great and small!

Environmental Stewardship

As an Earth Care Congregation and a member of Interfaith Partners of the Chesapeake, Woods joins more than 100 congregations as we work to demonstrate good stewardship in how we manage our grounds and facilities.

Over 50% Reduced Energy Consumption

Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church in Severna Park, Maryland, has been named one of 12 national Interfaith Power & Light 2022 Cool Congregations Challenge winners receiving a runner-up award. (PNS)


In the main church building, we have installed new high efficiency HVAC systems, replaced windows and doors with highly insulated versions, improved ceiling insulation in the large fellowship rooms, installed low water use fixtures in the bathrooms and replaced all light fixtures with LED lights including the parking lot lights. 


Our collective improvements yield an annual reduction in carbon emissions of over 400 metric tons of CO2, with an annual cost savings of $30,000.

Storm Water Remediation

On our church grounds, Woods has made storm water remediation a high priority. We have planted hundreds of native trees, shrubs and plants to improve uptake of our storm water and to provide habitat for pollinators, birds and wildlife.


Through changes in storm water piping, we have diverted roof top runoff onto our grounds to slow down and soak in rather than have it dump into the County storm drains.


We have a rain garden and a swale on either side of the main parking lot to also allow rain water to soak into the ground.  The rain garden and swale also provide habitat for additional native plants and the wildlife that depends on them.

There's Nothing Like Native Plants!

Woods has used virtually all available space in our gardens to house native plants, which support pollinators, birds, and the surrounding ecosystem.   Our continued efforts help to restore the four-acre habitat our church campus is built on.


Our congregation began implementing these plans using two grants from the Unity Gardens organization to plant 360 native plants in the fall of 2018 and the spring of 2019 using all volunteer labor.  In the fall of 2019, Woods received a Chesapeake Bay Trust grant to reforest the area of woods on our campus with 175 native trees and shrubs, which were again planted using church and community volunteers.  


In the spring and summer of 2020, Woods continued the project with an erosion control effort using 150 native plants along a driveway, with socially-distanced volunteers from the church and community planting 150 new plants where there previously had been an eroding slope of mowed lawn.  The last leg of the project was the planting of 20 native trees in November 2020 through the county Tree Trooper program.


The new landscape has been enjoyed by the congregation, the families of the church preschool, and the many community groups who use their facilities. We have seen butterflies and native bees on the flowering shrubs in the spring, toads, skinks and pollinators all summer long, and migrating birds and butterflies at nectar sources and berry producing shrubs in the fall! (coolcongregations.org)

Native Plants Initiative

Landmarks on Campus

Centennial Cross

  • Ebenezer Stone

    Samuel then took a large stone and placed it between the towns of Mizpah and Jeshanah. He named it Ebenezer (which means the "stone of help"). for he said, "Up to this point the LORD has helped us!"


    An Ebenezer stone uses something physical to remind us of spiritual truth, especially God's faithfulness and goodness; it can be anything that reminds us of how God has helped us. We invite you to reflect on how God has helped you!

  • Bell

    This bell was installed in the Woods bell tower circa 1950, and was struck by lightning in 1987.


     Both the tower and the bell were damaged. A new bell was then installed, and the damaged bell has been placed on the grounds as an exhibit! The current pergola was designed by Elder Dale Moeller and mounted in 2012, in honor of Woods Centennial.

  • Centennial Cross

    The Children's Centennial Cross was decorated by the Sunday School children with ceramic tiles with Bible and Woods Church history themes in honor of the year-long Centennial Celebration that began in 2011. The names of the children who helped are on the sign in front of the cross. The cross was put up in 2012 in a special dedication ceremony, commemorating the 110th year of Woods.

  • Holy Grounds Amphitheater

    The Amphiter was constructed through the combined effort of five Eagle Scouts and their families: Matthew Brenneman, Matthew Hasson, Michael Bacot, Eric Carassanesi and Samuel Allen. They created it so that Woods Church, and specifically the children of Woods, would have a place outside for Sunday School or other activities. They wanted everyone to be surrounded by nature and God's creation. The amphitheater seats 100 people and can be used for Boy Scout meetings, sunrise services, Sunday school classes, or other multi-purpose group gatherings.

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