{"nrhp_refnum":"80003399","name":"Lower Marsh Creek Presbyterian Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"SE of Orrtanna on LR 01002, Highland Township","address_restricted":false,"city":"Orrtanna","county":"Adams County","state":"PA","lat":39.81167955600006,"lon":-77.33287532099996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-10-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story rubble fieldstone Presbyterian church in Orrtanna, Adams County, Pennsylvania, with a datestone of 1790 over its front entrance. The congregation's first house of worship was a log church at the graveyard on the west bank of Marsh Creek.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the church is a well preserved example of early religious architecture in Adams County and a fine representative of a regional type of stone ecclesiastical building. It is compared with four similar structures in the county, including the Great Conewago Presbyterian Church, which is already listed. The form notes that the church is less elaborate in detail than Great Conewago but is still eligible for architectural significance.","narrative":"Built of rubble fieldstone in 1790 on a site along the Great Road in Carroll's Tract, Lower Marsh Creek Presbyterian Church is a one-story building three bays wide and six bays deep. A datestone of 1790 sits above a semicircular opening in the front gable, and the windows and doors are capped with radiating stone arches. The congregation had earlier worshipped in a log church at the graveyard on the west bank of Marsh Creek, where a gravestone bears the date 1749. The present building was erected in a grove of great oaks near a spring. It was remodeled around 1850, when a new roof, floor, and pulpit were installed, and again in 1891, when stained glass replaced the east windows. A basement room added in 1945 holds church school classes each Sunday morning. The church is regarded as a well preserved example of early regional stone church architecture in Adams County.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["C"],"status_note":null,"vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:34.477476-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/80003399.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80003399/3fa7fc8b18-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80003399/3fa7fc8b18-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lower_Marsh_Creek_Presby.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lower_Marsh_Creek_Presby.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996857","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_Marsh_Creek_Presbyterian_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6693595"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/adams-county/lower-marsh-creek-presbyterian-church-80003399/"}