{"nrhp_refnum":"80004144","name":"Methodist Church Concord","other_names":["Woods Methodist Church"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"SE of Carthage off TX 59","address_restricted":false,"city":"Carthage","county":"Panola County","state":"TX","lat":32.00690912300007,"lon":-94.24736832299999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-09-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Exploration/Settlement","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story, one-room vernacular wooden church, also known as Woods Methodist Church, near Tenaha in Panola County, Texas. It was built in 1876-1877 on the site of an earlier log church.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as a once-common but now rare example of a nineteenth-century East Texas vernacular church with a strictly utilitarian plan. It is also tied to the settlement of a sparsely populated area, where the church served as a central meeting place for scattered settlers. It was the first church in the area, and it still retains its sense of time and place.","narrative":"Woods Methodist Church, near Tenaha in Panola County, is a plain one-room pine church built in 1876-1877 by members of the local community. It replaced an earlier log church, built before 1858 and known as Methodist Church Concord, which also served as a schoolhouse. The building sits on piers, has white clapboard siding, tall nine-over-nine windows for light and ventilation, and a gabled roof. A foyer and belfry added in 1900 are its only structural alterations. Inside, pine wainscoting and wallpaper cover the walls. The church was founded before 1858 by Sara Bryan and James B. Armstrong, and the cemetery behind it was established in 1858. In a rough, thinly settled region of cotton farms, it gave scattered families a central gathering place. It is valued as a rare surviving example of a simple East Texas vernacular church, and it remains in use for worship.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899 (specific dates 1876-1877)","architect_builder":"Local Craftsmen","architectural_style":"Texas vernacular architecture (East Texas vernacular church)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Excellent condition, occupied, and still used as a church; the cemetery behind it holds markers dated 1876 to 1979.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:18.931105-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/54/9731/40973154/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/80004144.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004144/a8155721fa-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004144/a8155721fa-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Bmkerrdog","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woods_Community_Methodist_Church_and_Cemetery_Gate.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Bmkerrdog</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:Woods_Community_Methodist_Church_and_Cemetery_Gate.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40973154","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methodist_Church_Concord","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14711044"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/panola-county/methodist-church-concord-80004144/"}