{"nrhp_refnum":"80004185","name":"Grace Church","other_names":["Grace Episcopal Church"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"W of Cumberland on VA 632","address_restricted":false,"city":"Ca Ira","county":"Cumberland County","state":"VA","lat":37.48349113900008,"lon":-78.32872564299998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-10-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Grace Church is a brick temple-form Episcopal country church at Ca Ira, near Cumberland in Cumberland County, Virginia, built 1840-43 by local master builder Valentine Parrish.","why_significant":"It is argued to be a skillful blend of Roman, Greek and Gothic Revival elements, with Jeffersonian temple form and brickwork and details adapted from builders' pattern books such as Asher Benjamin's. It is also one of the few surviving buildings of the town of Ca Ira. Its completion revived the inactive Littleton parish, reflecting the Episcopal Church's revival in Virginia before the Civil War.","narrative":"Grace Church is a small brick country church in the former town of Ca Ira, Cumberland County, Virginia. Built between 1840 and 1843 by local master builder Valentine Parrish, it measures about 32 by 48 feet and follows a temple form with Flemish bond brickwork, a cove cornice, and a slate roof. Inside, a gallery rests on Doric columns, and the paneled pulpit draws on plates from Asher Benjamin's Practical House Carpenter. The church combines Roman, Greek and Gothic Revival elements with careful craftsmanship. Ca Ira was a milling and tobacco town that declined after the Civil War, and the church was abandoned near the end of the nineteenth century. Descendants of the congregation formed a restoration society in 1928, restored the building, and revived annual homecoming services in 1954. The church and its small cemetery occupy about two-thirds of an acre and are among the few surviving traces of the town.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Col. Valentine Parrish w/ Albert Mann","architectural_style":"Roman, Greek, and Gothic Revival elements on a temple-form country church","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in excellent condition and unaltered on the original site; restored after 1928 and maintained in good repair, with annual homecoming services.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.884928-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/47/6803/41680347/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/80004185.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004185/405dfaa7aa-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004185/405dfaa7aa-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"AlbertHerring at English Wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GraceChurchCaIra.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">AlbertHerring at English Wikipedia</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:GraceChurchCaIra.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680347","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Church_(Ca_Ira,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5591039"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/cumberland-county/grace-church-80004185/"}