{"nrhp_refnum":"69000215","name":"St. James Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Daugherty Rd. between Back St. and Ocean Hwy.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Accomac","county":"Accomack County","state":"VA","lat":37.71745241900004,"lon":-75.67224836699995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1969-06-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"St. James Church is a one-story brick church on the east side of Daugherty Road in Accomac, Accomack County, Virginia, built in 1838 from materials salvaged from an earlier eighteenth-century church nearby.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the church is significant mainly for its surviving nineteenth-century painted architectural decoration inside, done soon after construction by a traveling artist named Potts. It calls the trompe l'oeil work an extremely fine, if not unique, example of antebellum church decoration. The contrast between the provincial exterior and the sophisticated interior is also noted.","narrative":"St. James Church in Accomac, Virginia, is a one-story brick church built in 1838 using materials salvaged from an earlier eighteenth-century church nearby. Outside, a stuccoed gable front carries a four-column Greek Doric portico with an unusual unbroken row of guttae, and above it rises a Gothic bell tower with small crockets and a squat spire. Four tall windows with rubbed brick arches line each side. The real distinction is inside, where painted architectural decoration imitates a coffered vault, pilasters, entablature and plasterwork. The painting uses shadows and false perspective in true trompe l'oeil fashion, and was done soon after construction by a traveling artist named Potts. The church keeps its original pews and a gallery stair that descends in an unsupported flight, and the paintings were restored in 1929. The property was recognized because such sophisticated decoration is unusual in a church of otherwise provincial architecture.","period_of_significance":"19th Century (specific date 1838)","architect_builder":"Painted decoration by a traveling artist named Potts; builder not named","architectural_style":"Greek Doric portico with Gothic bell tower; interior painted trompe l'oeil decoration","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as surviving in excellent condition (the form's condition box is marked fair/good); retains original pews, and the painted decoration was carefully restored in 1929. Occupied, in religious use.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.649051-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/29/6792/41679229/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/69000215.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/69000215/ca1ff9274d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/69000215/ca1ff9274d-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Ammodramus","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._James_Episcopal_(Accomac_VA)_interior_5.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Ammodramus</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._James_Episcopal_(Accomac_VA)_interior_5.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"82004529","name":"Accomac Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/accomac-historic-district-82004529/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41679229","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._James_Church_(Accomac,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7588450"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/accomack-county/st-james-church-69000215/"}