{"nrhp_refnum":"74000702","name":"Zion Episcopal Church","other_names":["Zion Church Talbotton"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"S of Talbotton on U.S. 80","address_restricted":false,"city":"Talbotton","county":"Talbot County","state":"GA","lat":32.674746406000054,"lon":-84.53968284599995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-05-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story wooden Gothic Revival country church built c.1848 in a grove of oak and cedar trees on U.S. 80 near Talbotton, Talbot County, Georgia. It was originally named Zion Church Talbotton.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it a superb, virtually unaltered example of a small rural English Gothic church of the Tudor type, closely resembling designs in Richard Upjohn's 1852 Rural Architecture, though no documents show direct influence. It is also described as a monument to the mid-century Episcopal missionary movement. It is one of two Georgia Episcopal churches in this rural Gothic revival style.","narrative":"Set among oak and cedar trees near Talbotton, Georgia, Zion Episcopal Church is a small wooden country church built around 1848 and consecrated in 1853. Its brown, vertically boarded heart pine walls, central square tower, lancet windows and Tudor-arched entrance reflect the English Gothic Revival. Details such as the trefoil bargeboard, scrolled dentil cornice and crenellated parapets are described as carefully combined rather than simply applied. Inside, the altar, communion rail, lectern and prayer desk are walnut, a Pilcher pipe organ from about 1850 still runs on a hand pump, and original box pews remain in place, with galleries where enslaved people worshipped. The church grew from the missionary work of the Rev. Richard Johnson, supported by South Carolina rice planters. It was listed for its architecture, its close kinship with Richard Upjohn's published rural church designs, its near-unaltered condition, and its role in the mid-century missionary movement.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"English Gothic Revival (Carpenter Gothic, Tudor period interpretation)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition is excellent and unaltered, on its original site; the form lists it as occupied and in religious use, with only three members in 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 02:55:40.165057-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/74000702.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74000702/cf44ce133b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74000702/cf44ce133b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Rivers Langley; SaveRivers","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zion_Episcopal_Church_(NRHP);_Talbotton,_GA.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Rivers Langley; SaveRivers</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:Zion_Episcopal_Church_(NRHP);_Talbotton,_GA.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"76000649","name":"LeVert Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/georgia/levert-historic-district-76000649/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93209562","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zion_Episcopal_Church_(Talbotton,_Georgia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q48976911"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/talbot-county/zion-episcopal-church-74000702/"}