{"nrhp_refnum":"69000278","name":"Timber Ridge Presbyterian Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"SW of jct. of Rtes. 11 and 716","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lexington","county":"Rockbridge County","state":"VA","lat":37.84259376600005,"lon":-79.35843543799996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1969-11-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Religion"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Presbyterian meeting house of gray limestone near Lexington in Rockbridge County, Virginia, built in 1755-56 and later enlarged and altered. It stands on the southeast side of Route 11 with an adjoining burying ground.","why_significant":"The congregation dates to 1746 and the stone meeting house is the second oldest Presbyterian meeting house in the Valley of Virginia. It hosted important Presbytery meetings in the 1770s and 1780s and housed the Augusta Academy, forerunner of Washington and Lee University. Its thick walls were built so it could serve as a fort during the French and Indian War.","narrative":"Timber Ridge Presbyterian Church is a limestone meeting house near Lexington in Rockbridge County, Virginia. The congregation was organized in 1746 by the minister John Blair, and the present building went up in 1755-56, during the French and Indian War. Its walls were made stout enough to be converted into a fort if needed. The original structure was a plain one-story rectangle with a gable roof. Major changes followed: a porch in 1871, a near-total remodelling in 1899-1900 that added transepts, a choir and enlarged arched windows, and a two-story educational wing around 1950. Little colonial fabric survives beyond parts of three walls and some roof timbers. The church hosted Hanover Presbytery meetings in the 1770s and 1780s, and the Augusta Academy, later Washington and Lee University, moved there in 1776. It remains the second oldest Presbyterian meeting house in the Valley of Virginia.","period_of_significance":"18th Century; specific date 1756","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition rated fair; altered but on its original site. Listed as occupied and in religious use, with a no-longer-used burying ground to the east.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.491402-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/44/6834/41683444/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/69000278.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/69000278/d07562e90e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/69000278/d07562e90e-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Timber_Ridge_PCUSA,_northern_side.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Timber_Ridge_PCUSA,_northern_side.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41683444","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timber_Ridge_Presbyterian_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14713351"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/rockbridge-county/timber-ridge-presbyterian-church-69000278/"}