{"nrhp_refnum":"82002492","name":"Richland Baptist Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Richland Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Jeffersonville","county":"Twiggs County","state":"GA","lat":32.63100222600008,"lon":-83.40053782799998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-06-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Religion","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small Greek Revival country church with an adjacent historic cemetery, on a 3.57-acre wooded site off Richland Church Road near Jeffersonville in rural Twiggs County, Georgia. It was built about 1844-1845.","why_significant":"The church is a fine, virtually unaltered example of an antebellum Greek Revival country church and the only one of its kind in Twiggs County. It also has an unusual engineering feature: a balcony hung from iron rods suspended from the roof trusses. It was the home of one of the county's earliest congregations, organized in 1811.","narrative":"Richland Baptist Church is a two-story, gable-roofed Greek Revival meetinghouse in rural Twiggs County, Georgia, built around 1844-1845. It has a heavy timber frame on a brick foundation, weatherboard siding, and a full-width Doric portico with four square columns. Inside is a single open room with original hand-planed plank pews and a balcony built for enslaved worshippers, hung from iron rods attached to the roof trusses. A cemetery with stones dating to 1831 lies to the east. The congregation was organized in 1811, and this is the third church building on the site. It was built as local plantation owners prospered and new settlers arrived. Membership declined after the Civil War, and the last pastor resigned in 1911. Descendants repaired the building in 1928 and restored it in 1948-1949. The church is notable for its integrity, since few alterations have been made and no modern intrusions affect the surrounding setting.","period_of_significance":"Ca. 1844-1845","architect_builder":"Attributed to \"Mr. Sessions\"","architectural_style":"Greek Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Closed as an active church in 1911 and repaired in 1928 and 1948-1949. The form checks the property as unoccupied, and it is maintained by a restoration league. The cemetery is still considered active.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:40.712173-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/82002492.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82002492/6884c16f74-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82002492/6884c16f74-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Bubba73 (Jud McCranie)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Richland_Baptist_Church,_Twiggs_County,_GA,_US.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Bubba73 (Jud McCranie)</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:Richland_Baptist_Church,_Twiggs_County,_GA,_US.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93209788","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q134465823"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/twiggs-county/richland-baptist-church-82002492/"}