J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937)

Baltimore, MD—Last week our neighbors graciously surprised my son and I with a pair of tickets to Friday’s Red Sox v. Orioles game at Camden. We took full opportunity of our first trip to Baltimore’s inner harbor—we played games and ate lunch at the ESPN Zone, walked through a civil war ship, explored the shoreline of the inner harbor, and shopped at a Barnes & Noble bookstore housed in an old converted power plant.

The inner harbor area was crawling with Red Sox fans, and the game later that evening confirmed there were more Sox fans than Baltimore fans. The chants, “Let’s Go, Orioles” were all drowned out by “Let’s Go, Red Sox.”

It was Manny Ramirez’s birthday and his career home run total stood at 499. Camera bulbs popped like little flashes of lightning from the crowd upon each pitch, hoping to capture the swing of number 500. Manny didn’t come close to hitting home runs that night, ending the evening with a pop-up about 200 feet in the air which the O’s catcher caught standing on home plate. The next night (Saturday) Manny connected on 500. One day too late. The Sox won the Friday game 5-2 in 13 innings.

On the late, hour-long ride home my son and I concluded one of the highlights of the day was our stop before the inner harbor and Camden.

About a half mile North of Camden Yards sits The Green Mount Cemetery, an old, 60-acre plot of land, established in 1839, separated from the rest of the world by a stone wall perimeter. The cemetery is the final resting place of the famous (Johns Hopkins) and the infamous (John Wilkes Booth). It’s also the final resting place of Baltimore native, J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937).

Machen, who never married, was laid to rest here on January 5, 1937 next to his father (Arthur Webster) and mother (Mary Gresham). (See map).

Machen’s life and ministry were prolific. He contended for the faith at Princeton Seminary, eventually established Westminster Theological Seminary in 1929, supported and trained global missions, and wrote books like What is Faith? (Banner of Truth 1925) and Christianity and Liberalism (Eerdmans, 1923) that remain readable and relevant today. It’s no surprise to read Machen’s books quoted throughout Why We’re Not Emergent (Moody, 2008). Machen’s books speak to contemporary issues nearly a century later.

So last Friday, in the same manner as our trip to Princeton Cemetery in 2006, my son and I spent a few moments photographing Machen’s grave and reflecting on God’s graciousness to the church. Here are some pictures (mostly b/w) of our time at Green Mount.

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