{"nrhp_refnum":"01000145","name":"Opequon Presbyterian Church","other_names":["34-0009vdhr"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"217 Opequon Church Ln.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Winchester","county":"Frederick County","state":"VA","lat":39.138921519000064,"lon":-78.19496240099994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2001-02-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Religion","Exploration/Settlement"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story, gable-roofed, random-rubble stone Gothic Revival church with associated cemeteries on about five acres near Winchester, Frederick County, Virginia, completed in 1897 on the site of two earlier meeting houses.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the property represents the religious and funerary practices of early Shenandoah Valley settlers and the growth of Presbyterianism there. Its cemeteries hold the oldest known marked grave in the Valley (Wilson, 1742), and the congregation, established about 1736, is among the oldest west of the Blue Ridge.","narrative":"Opequon Presbyterian Church is a one-story random-rubble stone church near Winchester, completed in 1897 in the Gothic Revival style. It has Gothic-arched colored-glass windows, a three-stage northeast bell tower with the main entrance, circular tracery windows in the shingled gables, and a standing-seam metal roof. Inside, a molded-metal ceiling survives. A stone education building from 1956 is attached. The church is the third on its site; log meeting houses stood here from about 1736 and 1755, followed by a stone church in 1790 that was damaged in the Civil War and gutted by fire in 1873. Descendants of early settlers helped fund the 1897 rebuilding, partly using stones from the 1790 walls. Four burying grounds on the property include the oldest known marked grave in the Shenandoah Valley, that of John Wilson, who died in 1742. The congregation is regarded as one of the oldest west of the Blue Ridge.","period_of_significance":"1742-1897","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late Victorian: Gothic Revival","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Still used as a religious facility with active cemeteries; a 1956 education building connects to the sanctuary.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:00.629265-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/32/6808/41680832/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/01000145.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01000145/c7b596b06e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01000145/c7b596b06e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 4.0","author":"Sarah Stierch","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Opequon_Presbyterian_Church_-_Stierch.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Sarah Stierch</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Opequon_Presbyterian_Church_-_Stierch.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680832","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opequon_Presbyterian_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14713031"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/frederick-county/opequon-presbyterian-church-01000145/"}