{"nrhp_refnum":"78003182","name":"Bedford Historic Meetinghouse","other_names":["Methodist Meetinghouse","St. Philip's Episcopal Church"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"153 W. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Bedford (Independent City)","county":"Bedford (city and county)","state":"VA","lat":37.334769133000066,"lon":-79.52542501599999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-01-31","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small temple-form brick church at 153 West Main Street in Bedford, Virginia, built in 1838 as the town's first Methodist church. It later became St. Philip's Episcopal Church and now serves as a local historical society's headquarters and museum.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as the oldest religious building in Bedford and a handsomely proportioned example of Greek Revival church architecture common in the region. It preserves a side door built as a slaves' entrance to the gallery. After 1886 it served a Black Episcopal congregation and housed a day school for their children.","narrative":"Bedford Historic Meeting House is a small brick church at 153 West Main Street, erected in 1838 as the town's first Methodist church. Measuring 30 by 58 feet, it has a pedimented gable roof, a square pilastered belfry, Flemish bond brickwork and a plain interior with a gallery and boxed wooden benches. A side door built as a slaves' entrance to the gallery survives. Methodism had reached the area in the late eighteenth century, and Bishop Asbury preached in the Bedford courthouse in 1794 and 1800. When the Methodists moved to a larger building in 1886, local citizens arranged for Episcopalians to buy the church for Black worshippers, and it was reconsecrated as St. Philip's. A frame annex served as a day school for the congregation's children. The congregation merged with Bedford's white Episcopalians in 1968, and preservation-minded individuals acquired the building, forming the Bedford Historical Society in 1969. A 1977 fire destroyed the annex and damaged the roof, and restoration was underway.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Greek Revival (temple-form)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Undergoing restoration after a 1977 fire destroyed the rear frame annex and damaged the roof; used as a historical society meeting place and museum.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:58.037811-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/86/6797/41679786/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/78003182.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78003182/dd4c4ff844-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78003182/dd4c4ff844-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"LeeG7144","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bedford_Historic_Meetinghouse.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">LeeG7144</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:Bedford_Historic_Meetinghouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41679786","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedford_Historic_Meetinghouse","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4879161"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/bedford/bedford-historic-meetinghouse-78003182/"}