{"nrhp_refnum":"80002850","name":"Damascus Baptist Church Arbor","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Off SR 1158 and SR 1582","address_restricted":false,"city":"Harmony","county":"Iredell County","state":"NC","lat":35.93460184000003,"lon":-80.97840255799997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-11-24","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"An open, heavy-timber religious arbor built in 1855 for Damascus Baptist Church, in rural northwest Iredell County near Harmony, North Carolina. It sits within a church complex that also has an early twentieth century church, an education building and a cemetery.","why_significant":"The arbor is one of the oldest remaining religious structures in Iredell County and the oldest example of its type there. It represents a specialized form of religious building used in the Piedmont for revivals, camp meetings and services before permanent churches were built. It is rare because most such arbors have disappeared.","narrative":"Damascus Baptist Church Arbor is an open, rectangular timber shelter of about 35 by 55 feet, built in 1855 near the crest of a hill above Snow Creek in rural northwest Iredell County. It has a hand-hewn, pegged frame, log rafters, a gable-on-hip metal roof, a dirt floor and posts resting on fieldstones. A pulpit stands on a raised platform at the west end, with seating spread on three sides. Church records show that managers were appointed in 1853 to build an arbor. Permanent wooden arbors like this one grew out of temporary brush arbors and served congregations before churches were built, and also hosted camp meetings and revivals. Few survive in Iredell County, and this is the oldest. The congregation later built a frame church in 1907-1909, added an education building, and keeps a cemetery dating from at least 1857. The arbor is no longer used for worship but remains well maintained and hosts fellowship suppers.","period_of_significance":"1855; 1907-1909","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Well maintained by the congregation; no longer used for worship but still used for fellowship suppers after special services. Condition marked good and unaltered.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:58.443138-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/94/7180/47718094/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/80002850.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80002850/f0c640cdc0-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80002850/f0c640cdc0-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Gelcourt2018","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Damascus_Baptist_Church_Arbor.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Gelcourt2018</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:Damascus_Baptist_Church_Arbor.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47718094","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damascus_Baptist_Church_Arbor","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5212021"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/iredell-county/damascus-baptist-church-arbor-80002850/"}