{"nrhp_refnum":"73001993","name":"Tinkling Spring Presbyterian Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"VA 608, 1 mi. S of jct. with VA 636 and VA 631","address_restricted":false,"city":"Fishersville","county":"Augusta County","state":"VA","lat":38.08528581900006,"lon":-78.98286798843768,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-04-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick Greek Revival church in a grove of oak trees on a hill above the tinkling spring for which it is named, east of Route 608 near Fishersville, Augusta County, Virginia. It was first used on March 30, 1850.","why_significant":"It houses the second oldest Presbyterian congregation in the Valley of Virginia and is the third church building on the site. It is architecturally important as the work of preacher and architect Robert Lewis Dabney, and it and his other simple Greek Revival churches influenced many of Virginia's ante-bellum Presbyterian churches.","narrative":"Tinkling Spring Presbyterian Church stands on a hill in an oak grove above the spring that gave it its name, near Fishersville in Augusta County. The brick Greek Revival building has a temple form with a pedimented Doric portico at the center of the facade, brick pilasters framing recessed panels and stained glass windows, and a plain interior with a central aisle and raised pulpit. Later additions include a rear wing and an eastern wing joined by a brick passageway. The congregation formed in the late 1730s and is the second oldest Presbyterian congregation in the Valley of Virginia. Earlier buildings on the site were a log church built between 1742 and 1748 and a stone church from the 1790s. The present church was designed under the direction of minister Robert Lewis Dabney and first used on March 30, 1850. It cost about $3,400 and remains in use. Dabney's simple Greek Revival churches influenced many Virginia Presbyterian churches before the Civil War.","period_of_significance":"19th Century (c. 1850)","architect_builder":"Robert Lewis Dabney (designed and directed construction as the incumbent minister)","architectural_style":"Greek Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still in use as a church; the form checks the building as occupied with religious use, and notes it has been altered with rear and east additions.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.330371-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/85/6796/41679685/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/73001993.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001993/b31d80d590-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001993/b31d80d590-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Philip N. Wheeler","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tinkling_Spring_Presbyterian_Church-4x6-300ppi.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Philip N. Wheeler</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:Tinkling_Spring_Presbyterian_Church-4x6-300ppi.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41679685","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinkling_Spring_Presbyterian_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14713357"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/augusta-county/tinkling-spring-presbyterian-church-73001993/"}