{"nrhp_refnum":"07000224","name":"Bluemont Presbyterian Church and Cemetery","other_names":["070-5044"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Blue Ridge Pkwy, Mile Post #192","address_restricted":false,"city":"Fancy Gap","county":"Patrick County","state":"VA","lat":36.657943601000056,"lon":-80.57342090775353,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2007-03-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Religion","Social History","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small Gothic Revival church and adjoining cemetery on about 2 acres beside the Blue Ridge Parkway near Fancy Gap in Patrick County, Virginia, built in 1919 and faced in stone in 1946.","why_significant":"It is one of six rock-faced Presbyterian churches built or transformed by minister Robert W. Childress in Floyd, Carroll and Patrick Counties. It reflects Appalachian Presbyterian worship and social activism in western Virginia, and is significant for its religion, social history and architecture.","narrative":"Bluemont Presbyterian Church is a small Gothic Revival building with a cemetery, set on two acres on the south side of the Blue Ridge Parkway near Willis Gap in Patrick County, Virginia. Built in 1919 as a wood-frame church, it was faced in natural quartz and quartzite fieldstone in 1946 under the direction of Rev. Robert W. Childress, who became pastor in 1945. Congregation members pledged money and hauled stone to complete the work, even as parkway rangers objected under a 1937 scenic easement. A semi-hexagonal bell tower, triangular-headed stained-glass windows and tapered stone buttresses define its look. The cemetery, with about one hundred graves, is enclosed by ashlar masonry pillars linked by painted steel chains. Childress also added electric lighting, outdoor loudspeakers and church buses for Sunday school. The property is one of six Childress rock churches, valued for its religious and social history and its architecture from 1919 to 1956.","period_of_significance":"1919-1956","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Gothic Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Church and cemetery are still in religious and funerary use.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:02.68434-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/60/6788/41678860/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/07000224.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07000224/36feea5298-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07000224/36feea5298-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"G Keith Hall","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bluemont_Presbyterian_Church.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">G Keith Hall</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:Bluemont_Presbyterian_Church.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41678860","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluemont_Presbyterian_Church_and_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4930383"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/patrick-county/bluemont-presbyterian-church-and-cemetery-07000224/"}