{"nrhp_refnum":"79003345","name":"Bethesda Presbyterian Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"NC 5","address_restricted":false,"city":"Aberdeen","county":"Moore County","state":"NC","lat":35.13137420450005,"lon":-79.41338634322355,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-07-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story frame Presbyterian meeting house built in 1860 (dedicated 1862) on the southeast side of NC 5 just outside Aberdeen, Moore County, North Carolina, built by Archie McLeod and Norman McCaskill.","why_significant":"It was the oldest and, for nearly a century, the only meeting place of the Presbyterian Highland Scots, the earliest settlers of Moore County, giving it strong social and religious associations. It is also a well-preserved example of mid-19th century vernacular building, and one of the few whose original specifications and builders' names are known.","narrative":"Bethesda Presbyterian Church is a plain two-story frame meeting house standing in a wooded park of cedar, oak, pine and magnolia just outside Aberdeen, North Carolina. Built in 1860 and dedicated in 1862, it rests on tall granite piers and has weatherboard siding, a low hipped roof, a wraparound gallery and original pine pews. A square steeple was added between 1865 and 1890. Archie McLeod and Norman McCaskill carried out the construction from written specifications that still survive. The congregation grew out of a group of Scottish settlers who began worshiping near Rockfish Creek after the Revolution. For decades the church was the only house of worship within a wide area and the center of Highland Scots social and religious life. After a chapel opened nearer Aberdeen in 1910, the old building was neglected until a 1927 homecoming service sparked its restoration. The Old Bethesda Cemetery Association now cares for the church and its cemetery, where editor and ambassador Walter Hines Page is buried.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Archie McLeod and Norman McCaskill","architectural_style":"Vernacular meeting house","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Described as in good condition and occupied; maintained by the Old Bethesda Cemetery Association and church trustees, with annual homecoming services held there.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:57.936382-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/50/7214/47721450/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/79003345.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79003345/28c9c2dcb8-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79003345/28c9c2dcb8-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.0","author":"Donald Lee Pardue","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bethesda_Presbyterian_Church,_Aberdeen,_North_Carolina.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Donald Lee Pardue</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bethesda_Presbyterian_Church,_Aberdeen,_North_Carolina.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47721450","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethesda_Presbyterian_Church_(Aberdeen,_North_Carolina)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4897992"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/moore-county/bethesda-presbyterian-church-79003345/"}