{"nrhp_refnum":"01000689","name":"Old Stone Church","other_names":["Green Spring Church","Stone Church--0034-0023"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Approx. 1 mi. W of jct. of VA 671 and VA 739","address_restricted":false,"city":"Whitehall","county":"Frederick County","state":"VA","lat":39.30113507900006,"lon":-78.16786890899994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2001-07-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story limestone church and school building near Whitehall (Green Spring community) in northern Frederick County, Virginia, built around 1820 for a German Lutheran congregation and rebuilt in 1838 after a fire, with an adjoining cemetery and related landscape features.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the church is architecturally significant under Criterion C as the earliest surviving Lutheran church and the second oldest surviving stone church in Frederick County. It has kept its integrity for nearly two centuries, with an interior little changed since the mid-nineteenth century and no electricity or plumbing. It also served as a meetinghouse, school and community gathering place for German settlers.","narrative":"Old Stone Church is a small limestone meetinghouse on a knoll above farmland in the Green Spring community of northern Frederick County, Virginia. Built around 1820 for a German Lutheran congregation, it was rebuilt in 1838 after a fire. Its single story, three-bay form and tin gable roof follow the plain meetinghouse pattern common in early nineteenth-century Virginia. Inside, a partition divides the sanctuary from a schoolroom, and original-looking pine woodwork, chestnut pews, a schoolmaster's desk and a cast iron box stove survive. Electricity and plumbing have never been installed. It is listed for its architecture: it is the earliest surviving Lutheran church and the second oldest surviving stone church in the county. A cemetery with more than 425 graves, stone gate pillars, a well and later additions share the grounds. A memorial association formed in 1927 still maintains the property, which hosts annual reunions and other gatherings.","period_of_significance":"1820-1838","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Early Republic","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Maintained by the Old Stone Church Memorial Association as a museum and outdoor recreation site; no active congregation or school, but it hosts reunions, picnics and weddings, and burials still occur in the cemetery.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:01.27843-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/90/6807/41680790/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/01000689.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01000689/eab4155d21-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01000689/eab4155d21-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"AgnosticPreachersKid","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Stone_Church_(White_Hall,_Virginia)_5.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">AgnosticPreachersKid</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Stone_Church_(White_Hall,_Virginia)_5.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680790","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Stone_Church_(White_Hall,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14713022"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/frederick-county/old-stone-church-01000689/"}