{"nrhp_refnum":"07000193","name":"Mount Sinai Baptist Church","other_names":["Mount Sinai Baptist Church and Cemetery","133-5249"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"6100 Holy Neck Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Suffolk (Independent City)","county":"Suffolk","state":"VA","lat":36.63924299700005,"lon":-76.82901494599997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2007-03-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion","Black"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick Victorian Gothic Revival church with an associated cemetery on Holy Neck Road, near the village of Holland in rural Suffolk, Virginia. The present church was built in 1921 to a design by local architect Richard Herman Riedel, and the cemetery dates from about 1920.","why_significant":"The church is tied to African American history in Suffolk and the former Nansemond County, growing from a congregation founded in 1867 by Reverend Israel Cross, a former slave. It is also a rare, high-style example of Victorian Gothic Revival architecture in the rural parts of the area. Church members who were brick masons helped build it, and it has served as a religious institution continuously.","narrative":"Mount Sinai Baptist Church is a brick Victorian Gothic Revival building on Holy Neck Road in rural Suffolk, Virginia, with a cemetery across the road. Completed in 1921 and designed by Holland architect Richard Herman Riedel, it has two towers of different heights, a Classical porch, and pointed-arch stained glass windows said to be made in Germany. Many members of the congregation were brick masons and helped build it. The congregation traces its origins to 1867, when Reverend Israel Cross, a former slave, helped organize a separate African American church. It met in a bush arbor, a log building and a frame church before buying an acre on Holy Neck Road in 1881. The building is significant for its place in the area's African American history and as an unusually refined Gothic Revival church in a farming landscape. The church and cemetery remain in religious use, with additions from 1964 and 2000.","period_of_significance":"1881-1956","architect_builder":"Richard H. Riedel-architect","architectural_style":"Late Victorian: Gothic","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still in use as a church and cemetery; the cemetery is in continual use and holds 758 burials. Additions were made to the rear in 1964 and 2000.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:03.286084-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/83/6838/41683883/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/07000193.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07000193/131e4cc2c1-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07000193/131e4cc2c1-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mount_Sinai_Baptist_Church,_Suffolk.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mount_Sinai_Baptist_Church,_Suffolk.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41683883","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mt._Sinai_Baptist_Church_(Suffolk,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6923661"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/suffolk/mount-sinai-baptist-church-07000193/"}