{"nrhp_refnum":"78002096","name":"Macedonia Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"N of Burlington","address_restricted":false,"city":"Burlington","county":"Lawrence County","state":"OH","lat":38.439747520000026,"lon":-82.52952451899995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-02-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Black","Architecture","Religion","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small one-story frame Baptist church, about 20 by 30 feet, on Macedonia Ridge north of Burlington, Lawrence County, Ohio, built in 1849 and moved about 200 yards in 1870.","why_significant":"The church is presented as a religious and cultural milestone in Black history in Southern Ohio. It served a community of freed slaves, including 32 people emancipated in a Virginia planter's will who settled at Burlington in 1849. It became the mother church of about eight other Baptist churches in Ohio and West Virginia.","narrative":"Macedonia Church is a modest one-story frame meetinghouse, roughly 20 by 30 feet, on Macedonia Ridge north of Burlington, Ohio. It has beveled siding, a gabled tin roof, a projecting two-story bell tower and a foundation of fieldstone piers. Inside, wooden box pews, a stove, window woodwork and the pulpit survive from the 19th century, along with a pressed tin ceiling. The congregation was organized in 1820, and the building went up in the fall of 1849, with lumber supplied by abolitionist Eli Thayer and carried across the Ohio River by freed slaves and white neighbors. That autumn, 32 people freed under the will of Virginia planter James Twyman arrived to settle nearby. The church became the religious and social center of the Black community and the mother church of about eight Baptist congregations in Ohio and West Virginia. Because of dampness, it was moved about 200 yards in 1870. It is recognized as a reminder of the idealism and industry of area refugees from slavery.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition is marked fair and altered. The property is checked as both occupied and unoccupied, with religious present use. Original interior features survive, including box pews, a stove and the pulpit.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:09.044719-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/78002096.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002096/1c0d0e7953-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002096/1c0d0e7953-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Macedonia_Church_north_of_Burlington.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Macedonia_Church_north_of_Burlington.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71989645","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macedonia_Baptist_Church_(Burlington,_Ohio)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6723066"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/lawrence-county/macedonia-church-78002096/"}