{"nrhp_refnum":"08000481","name":"Graves Chapel and Cemetery","other_names":["Graves Church","VDHR File No. 303-0015"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"457 Chapel Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Stanley","county":"Page County","state":"VA","lat":38.57673518800004,"lon":-78.48767484899997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2008-05-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story frame Methodist chapel built in 1856 with an adjoining cemetery, a circa 1893 parsonage and a privy, in the Marksville community of Stanley, Page County, Virginia. The nominated area covers 4.694 acres.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that the chapel and cemetery are a representative nineteenth-century rural church and burial ground in Page County, eligible under Criterion C for architecture at the local level. The chapel is a simple vernacular church that received a Gothic Revival front addition around the 1870s. The cemetery, founded in 1860, has many decoratively carved tombstones, and the parsonage is of simple Victorian character.","narrative":"Graves Chapel is a small frame Methodist church in the Marksville community of Stanley, Page County, Virginia, built in 1856 on land set aside by local leader Paschal Graves. Originally a plain, vernacular, gable-fronted building, it was extended by about fifteen feet around the 1870s and given a Gothic Revival front with lancet-arched door and windows. An open belfry, weatherboard siding, a small rear apse and a simple interior with a turned altar rail survive. Beside the chapel lie a cemetery begun in 1860, with marble and granite monuments, and a two-story parsonage built about 1893. The property is considered a representative example of the modest rural churches built in the county during the nineteenth century. It also has Civil War associations: it served briefly as a hospital, and two Confederate soldiers are buried there. The chapel still hosts occasional services and events, and the cemetery remains in use.","period_of_significance":"1856 - circa 1893","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Gothic Revival; Late Victorian","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Chapel used for occasional religious services and special events; cemetery remains in use; parsonage and privy (now a tool shed) also on the property.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:03.346807-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/2/6824/41682402/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/08000481.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000481/0ce7c78fe4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000481/0ce7c78fe4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Cecouchman","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GravesChapelCemetery_4900.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Cecouchman</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:GravesChapelCemetery_4900.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41682402","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graves_Chapel_and_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15222054"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/page-county/graves-chapel-and-cemetery-08000481/"}