For years, the western end of the Christ United Methodist Church property in Halethorpe was a plain grassy area.
But an 18-year-old, wrapping up her time in Girl Scouts, saw the space as an opportunity to improve the church she has attended since she was born.
For her Gold Award, a community service project that culminates her experience as a Girl Scout, Taylor Cole of Millersville turned the area into a prayer garden.
The garden was something church members longed for, but couldn't afford, she said.
She felt it was important to give back to her church.
"If you do [the project] somewhere else where you don't really go, you don't get to see the impact you have and your project has," she said. "I know the people here and they were so thrilled with it. It was very nice to see."
She came up with the idea in June 2015. After some early fundraising in September at a church festival, she hit the ground running in May and raised $1,100 through a submarine sandwich sale.
At the end of June, with some help from her parents, she ripped out the grass, and leveled the land in the beginning of July. She built three raised beds — one 8 feet long and two 6 feet long — and planted a variety of perennial flowers to ensure the garden would be sustainable.
She added pebbles and stepping stones — leftover stone from an old porch donated by her family — and a bench at the garden's far end, donated by a congregant with money from her father's memorial fund, which went to the church.
Cole, acknowledging she is not a landscaper by trade, was happy with the results.
"When it came off the paper and became a reality, it was really cool," she said. "Once the gravel went in, it really came to life."
More than a year in the making, she designed a prayer garden in the spot, which was about 12 feet wide and 60 feet long.
The church, which has about 200 members and about 40 each week attending services, opened in 1962 at the former home of the Dorguth Memorial Methodist Church, at of Florida Avenue and Brian Street.
Pastor Richard Keller has led the church since 2012 and said the prayer garden is an important addition. He plans to use it to conduct part of a service in the future.
He sees the similarities between the garden and national parks, a place where people often get away from the bustle of day to day life.
"That's the advantage the prayer garden has. Quiet," he said. "People can spend time with God in that quiet place."
Cole, a graduate of Severna Park High School, is now a freshman at Penn State University studying chemistry.