{"nrhp_refnum":"72001534","name":"Old Donation Church","other_names":["Old Donation Episcopal Church"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"4449 N. Witch Duck Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Virginia Beach (Independent City)","county":"Virginia Beach","state":"VA","lat":36.866782346000036,"lon":-76.12873081599997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-04-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Old Donation Church is a one-story brick colonial parish church at 4449 N. Witch Duck Road in Virginia Beach, Virginia, built in 1736 as the third church of Lynnhaven Parish.","why_significant":"The nomination marks it as significant for its architecture and as the surviving third parish church of Lynnhaven Parish, accepted by the vestry on June 25, 1736. It also records the parish's colonial customs, including private hanging pews and seating of the sexes apart, and its later abandonment, burning and restoration.","narrative":"Old Donation Church, on North Witch Duck Road in Virginia Beach, is a one-story brick parish church with a gable roof, completed in 1736 as the third church of Lynnhaven Parish. The walls use Flemish bond above the water table and English bond below, with glazed header patterns, glazed Queen closers and round-headed window arches. Small openings near the eaves lit private hanging pews added between 1736 and 1769. Colonial worshippers were seated by sex, and wealthy families paid for their own galleries and pews. The building was repaired in 1822-24, left abandoned from 1843, and burned in a woods fire in 1882. A restoration in 1916 brought a brick vestibule and furnishings from St. Paul's Church in Norfolk, including the reredos, altar, pulpit, lectern and communion rail. The church regained parish status in 1943. Its churchyard holds graves dating from 1768, with many stones moved from nearby plantations around 1930.","period_of_significance":"18th Century (specific date 1736)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition marked good and altered; on its original site, occupied and in religious use by the congregation.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.985703-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/7/6840/41684007/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/72001534.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72001534/4ebf215c00-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72001534/4ebf215c00-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Rlevse","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:OldDonationEpiscopalChurchA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Rlevse</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:OldDonationEpiscopalChurchA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41684007","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Donation_Episcopal_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7083868"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/virginia-beach/old-donation-church-72001534/"}