{"nrhp_refnum":"75001239","name":"Brown Marsh Presbyterian Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"N of Clarkton on SR 1700 off SR 1762","address_restricted":false,"city":"Clarkton","county":"Bladen County","state":"NC","lat":34.526019699000074,"lon":-78.63827404099999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-09-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small, plain frame Presbyterian church on a knoll above Brown Marsh Creek near Clarkton, Bladen County, North Carolina, surrounded by a graveyard. It was built between 1805 and 1828 and dedicated December 13, 1828; the carpenter is thought to be Thomas Sheridan.","why_significant":"It is the oldest church building in Bladen County and is thought to be the only surviving example of the simple, pre-Greek Revival churches built by the Scots Presbyterians who dominated the Upper Cape Fear region. Its cemetery holds many early grave markers, including a stone dated 1786. It is considered perhaps the chief early landmark of the area's Scots Presbyterian community.","narrative":"Brown Marsh Presbyterian Church is a small, weathered frame meeting house on a knoll above Brown Marsh Creek near Clarkton, in a grove of oak and cedar. Five bays wide and three deep, it has a gable roof of wooden shingles, unpainted siding, nine-over-nine windows with batten shutters, and a single large interior room with a high three-sided pulpit and a later gallery. A chalk inscription on the ceiling reads \"Thos. Sheridan 1828\" (or 1818), and the church was dedicated in December 1828. Scots immigrants who settled the Upper Cape Fear valley founded the congregation, which was active by 1795. Regular worship ended in 1871 when a new church was built nearer Clarkton, though some members stayed until 1873, and a newly formed congregation used the building from 1911 to 1949. It is the oldest church building in Bladen County, and about 200 gravestones surround it, the oldest dated 1786.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Thomas Sheridan","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Building has remained vacant since 1949 but is preserved by the region's Presbyterians; condition listed as fair.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:55.757663-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/95/7190/47719095/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/75001239.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75001239/74c6870929-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75001239/74c6870929-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Mrniceguy28431","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brown_Marsh_Presbyterian_Church.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Mrniceguy28431</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brown_Marsh_Presbyterian_Church.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719095","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Marsh_Presbyterian_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4976205"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/bladen-county/brown-marsh-presbyterian-church-75001239/"}