St. Matthew's UM (Great Swamp Methodist) Church Shady Side Road, Shadyside 20764
Both the church plot and the original church building were established in 1879. This is the second Methodist Church founded in southern Anne Arundel County by James Thompson, the first being Franklin UM Church in Churchton. Thompson, who was a freed man before the conclusion of the Civil War, had purchased farmland from the Weems family and later provided the land parcel on which St. Matthew's UM Church is located. The original name of the church, remodeled in 1898, was called Great Swamp AME Church, consistent with the name designated on the old maps for Shady Side and Deale areas of Anne Arundel County. St. Matthew's stands as a memorial to James Thompson, who founded two churches. There is an old cemetery on the site. Thompson may be buried in an unmarked grave in the cemetery on the northeast side of the Church.