{"nrhp_refnum":"84002143","name":"Mount Ebal Methodist Protestant Church","other_names":["Dv-441"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"End of SR 2518","address_restricted":false,"city":"Denton","county":"Davidson County","state":"NC","lat":35.62624457000004,"lon":-80.06773374399995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-07-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small gabled frame Methodist Protestant church, 36 by 48 feet, on fieldstone piers at the end of SR 2518 near Denton in southeast Davidson County, North Carolina. It was built in 1883 by local farmers John T. Sexton and Alfred Thompson.","why_significant":"The church is significant for its representative architecture, typical of small, unpretentious frame meeting houses built across the county in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is virtually unaltered because use stopped around 1940. It also reflects the denomination's late nineteenth-century peak and its role as a focus of annual camp meetings for rural farmers.","narrative":"Mt. Ebal Methodist Protestant Church is a plain gabled frame building near Denton in southeast Davidson County, measuring 36 by 48 feet and resting on fieldstone piers. Two local farmers and congregation members, John T. Sexton and Alfred Thompson, reportedly built it in 1883 for $60. Inside, the walls, ceiling, pews and pulpit are hand-planed pine left unpainted. The congregation traces its origins to about 1861, and the grounds once held a camp meeting arbor lit at night by torches on stone platforms; two reconstructed cairns mark the spot. Camp meetings drew large crowds between 1870 and 1900. Regular services probably ended soon after 1919, when most members had moved to Denton and roads had been rerouted, leaving the church at the end of a dirt lane. Because use stopped around 1940, the building is almost unchanged. It was listed for its typical rural architecture and its link to the denomination's late nineteenth-century peak. A cemetery lies to the northeast, and an annual homecoming is still held.","period_of_significance":"1883","architect_builder":"John T. Sexton & Alfred Thompson","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Maintained in good repair by the Mt. Ebal Memorial Association and used once a year for a homecoming service; regular services ended soon after 1919 and use ceased by about 1940.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:50.217414-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/43/7176/47717643/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/84002143.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002143/02ca9ca644-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002143/02ca9ca644-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"AmaryllisGardener","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mount_Ebal_Methodist_Protestant_Church.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">AmaryllisGardener</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mount_Ebal_Methodist_Protestant_Church.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47717643","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Ebal_Methodist_Protestant_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6920533"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/davidson-county/mount-ebal-methodist-protestant-church-84002143/"}