{"nrhp_refnum":"07001361","name":"East Rochester Church and Cemetery Historic District","other_names":["Methodist Episcopal Church","East Rochester Congregational","Briggs Lane or Woodside Cemetery"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"355 County Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Rochester","county":"Plymouth County","state":"MA","lat":41.78474797400003,"lon":-70.77709705599995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2008-01-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Community Planning and Development","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 1.25-acre historic district at 355 County Road in Rochester, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, made up of an 1857 Greek Revival wood-frame church and an adjoining cemetery of about 180 burials dating from 1828 to 1997.","why_significant":"The church and cemetery have served since the second quarter of the 19th century as the symbolic public center of a linear rural neighborhood on the Rochester-Wareham border. The church retains Greek Revival form, an 1892 vestibule addition, and early 20th-century interior features such as a tin ceiling and slip pews. Its congregational history, including a 1930 merger into a pioneering larger parish, is also documented.","narrative":"Along County Road on the Rochester-Wareham line, a small church and cemetery form the old center of a rural neighborhood. The church, built in 1857, is a 1½-story clapboarded wood-frame building on a brick foundation, with Greek Revival details including recessed-panel pilasters, a divided trim band below the cornice and tall 12/12 windows. An 1892 vestibule is covered in patterned Victorian shingles, and the square belfry holds an 1872 bell. Inside, a tin ceiling installed in 1910-11 and eighteen slip pews remain. The adjoining cemetery holds about 180 burials from 1828 to 1997, most before 1890. The congregation was Methodist at first, then Congregational from 1892, and in 1930 it joined a larger parish of several churches, an unusual step at the time. Services ended in 2001, and the church passed to the Rochester Historical Society in 2003, which operates it as a museum. The town owns the cemetery.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Mid 19th Century: Greek Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"The last church service was held in 2001 and the church was given to the Rochester Historical Society in 2003, which uses it as a museum; the cemetery is owned by the Town of Rochester.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.867379-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/72/7965/63796572/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/07001361.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07001361/a69bdaed12-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07001361/a69bdaed12-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Schlitzer90","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:East_Rochester_Cemetery.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Schlitzer90</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:East_Rochester_Cemetery.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796572","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Rochester_Church_and_Cemetery_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5329293"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/plymouth-county/east-rochester-church-and-cemetery-historic-district-07001361/"}