{"nrhp_refnum":"02000821","name":"St. Peter's Presbyterian Church and Spencertown Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Cty. Rte. 7, at NY 203","address_restricted":false,"city":"Spencertown","county":"Columbia County","state":"NY","lat":42.32224181600003,"lon":-73.54587646399995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2002-08-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A frame Federal-style church built in 1771, moved and remodeled in 1826, together with an adjoining cemetery of about two and a half acres, at the center of Spencertown in the town of Austerlitz, Columbia County, New York.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the church is significant in architecture as a classic New England-style Federal period religious building with a tall ornamental steeple. It is an unusually well-preserved example of a type built in upper Hudson Valley and central New York towns between about 1795 and 1840. The adjoining cemetery adds a wide variety of 18th and 19th century funerary art.","narrative":"St. Peter's Presbyterian Church is a clapboard-sided frame church beside a two-and-a-half-acre cemetery on the village green of Spencertown, in Austerlitz, Columbia County, New York. Built in 1771 across the street, it was turned, moved to its present site and enlarged in 1826 under master workman Philo Beebe of Chatham, who is credited with the facade, vestibule, belfry and steeple. The five-bay front has a pedimented central projection, a Palladian window and a Greek Revival entrance cornice added later. The tiered steeple rises an estimated 65 to 70 feet, and the attic still holds king post trusses believed to come from the 1771 building. The cemetery contains stones from about 1760 onward, including death's head carvings, tall obelisks, statuary, a stone crypt and a cast iron fence. The church was listed for its architecture as a well-preserved Federal period church that anchors a historic village, and both church and cemetery remain in use.","period_of_significance":"c. 1760-1826","architect_builder":"Babcock, Capt. William Avery (builder); Beebe, Philo (remodeling)","architectural_style":"Early Republic: Federal","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Church and cemetery both remain in religious and funerary use; the cemetery is still in use.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:53.124257-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/02000821.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02000821/593ad8462d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02000821/593ad8462d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Daniel Case","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Peter%27s_Presbyterian_Church,_Spencertown,_NY.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Daniel Case</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Peter%27s_Presbyterian_Church,_Spencertown,_NY.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"100002508","name":"Spencertown Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/new-york/spencertown-historic-district-100002508/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75317083","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter%27s_Presbyterian_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1587398"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/columbia-county/st-peters-presbyterian-church-and-spencertown-cemetery-02000821/"}