{"nrhp_refnum":"82003547","name":"Red Oak Presbyterian Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Cemetery Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Ripley","county":"Brown County","state":"OH","lat":38.79549194500004,"lon":-83.79554016999998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-06-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A simple vernacular limestone church building on Cemetery Road in rural Brown County near Ripley, Ohio, dating to 1817, with an older cemetery enclosed by a dry-laid rock wall directly to its west.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the church is significant as an example of early stone architecture, being the only stone church from its era known to remain in Brown County. It is also tied to the Rev. James Gilliland, an important southern Ohio abolitionist who served as its minister from 1805 to 1841. The adjacent old cemetery contributes to the setting.","narrative":"Red Oak Presbyterian Church is a one-story limestone meeting house set in a grove of trees off U.S. Route 68 on Cemetery Road, near Ripley in Brown County, Ohio. Built in 1817 with coursed, squared limestone walls 24 inches thick, it has a gently pitched pedimented gable roof, two front doors flanking a central window, and six matching windows along each side. A cement block addition was made at the rear in 1948 but is hidden from the access road. The congregation, organized in 1798, was the first in Brown County. Its minister from 1805 to 1841, the Rev. James Gilliland, helped hundreds of fleeing slaves travel through Ohio and held rallies and sermons for the abolitionist cause, and he is buried in the adjoining cemetery. Few early stone buildings survive in the county, most of them homes, and this is believed to be its only stone church of the period. The old cemetery, with its dry-laid rock wall and graves of Revolutionary and Civil War veterans, is part of the setting.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Simple vernacular stone building","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in regular use as a church since construction; condition listed as good and unaltered, with a 1948 rear addition and interior updates.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:12.040625-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/82003547.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82003547/7364de1d18-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82003547/7364de1d18-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Red_Oak_Presbyterian_Church_from_northwest.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Red_Oak_Presbyterian_Church_from_northwest.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71986869","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Oak_Presbyterian_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7304682"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/brown-county/red-oak-presbyterian-church-82003547/"}