{"nrhp_refnum":"73000305","name":"St. Michael's Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"26 Pleasant St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Marblehead","county":"Essex County","state":"MA","lat":42.50426022400006,"lon":-70.85088119199997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-06-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"St. Michael's Church is an Episcopal church at 26 Pleasant Street in Marblehead, Essex County, Massachusetts. It was built in 1714-15 as a clapboard building on a native stone foundation and enlarged in 1728.","why_significant":"It is believed to be the oldest Episcopal church still in use in New England, founded as a return to the Anglican faith in a largely Congregational town. Its plan, with four central columns and intersecting vaults, was a marked innovation in New England church architecture. It represents the first introduction of a specifically Anglican-conformist architecture there.","narrative":"St. Michael's Church, on a knoll at 26 Pleasant Street in Marblehead, was built in 1714-15 by Anglican dissenters in a town dominated by Congregationalists. Funding came from thirty ship captains and other contributors, with Colonel Nicholson as the main donor. Believed to be the oldest Episcopal church still in use in New England, it has a clapboard exterior on a native stone foundation. Its original plan was unusual: four central columns divide the square interior into nine bays, topped by intersecting tunnel vaults. A fifteen-foot extension and a hip roof were added in 1728. Repairs after the church reopened in 1831 gave it an essentially Gothic Revival look, and stained glass was added in 1888. The bell was recast in 1818 by Paul Revere and is still in use. A sepulchre lies beneath the church. The building is considered the first Anglican-conformist architecture in nonconformist New England.","period_of_significance":"18th and 19th centuries (specific dates 1714, 1831)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Originally an unusual Anglican design influenced by Wren-type English churches; altered in 1831 to an essentially Gothic Revival appearance","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in excellent condition, occupied and in religious use; the form notes the building has been altered.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.737955-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/78/7949/63794978/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/73000305.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000305/fd78a41f9d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000305/fd78a41f9d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Fletcher6","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Michael%27s_Church,_Marblehead.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Fletcher6</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:St._Michael%27s_Church,_Marblehead.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"84002402","name":"Marblehead Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/marblehead-historic-district-84002402/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794978","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Michael%27s_Church_(Marblehead,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7590672"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/essex-county/st-michaels-church-73000305/"}