 They wanted the location to be less than a day's trip from Washington, D.C., and protection from the sale of liquor, because Methodists did not believe in drinking alcohol.In June 1873, John T. Mitchell, Richard Willett, F. Howard, W.R. Woodward, E.F. Simpson, Mr. Worthington, Thomas P. Morgan, B. Peyton Brown, and a few others purchased of land from the widow of farmer Nathan Cooke for $6,636.25.The land was given to the Washington Grove Meeting Association, which had been recently incorporated on March 30, 1874.