{"nrhp_refnum":"85000903","name":"Summerville Presbyterian Church and Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Off SR 1291","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lillington","county":"Harnett County","state":"NC","lat":35.402851259000045,"lon":-78.85508010699994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-04-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A rectangular frame rural church and adjoining cemetery on a slightly elevated site west of Lillington in Harnett County, North Carolina. The church was built around 1848 and altered in the 1870s.","why_significant":"It is the oldest surviving church building in Harnett County and reflects the Highland Scots settlement of the sandhills region. It is tied to the Reverend Neill McKay, its minister for fifty years. Its Greek Revival form with later Gothic Revival touches, and a cemetery with about twenty markers signed by stonemason George Lauder, add architectural interest.","narrative":"Summerville Presbyterian Church and its cemetery occupy a gently raised site in western Harnett County, North Carolina. The congregation began in 1811 as Tirzah Church, and the present rectangular frame building dates to about 1848, making it the oldest surviving church building in the county. Its original Greek Revival character was updated in the 1870s with lancet-arched windows and a square steeple with a tent roof, giving it a Gothic Revival look. Inside, the original gallery with boxed seats survives. The church is linked to Highland Scots settlers and to the Reverend Neill McKay, who served as minister for fifty years, was a church historian, and served as a University of North Carolina trustee. The cemetery holds roughly one hundred fifty plots and many nineteenth-century markers, about twenty signed by Scots stonemason George Lauder of Fayetteville. Surnames such as McKay, McLean, McLeod and McNeill reflect the community's Scottish roots.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Builder/Architect unknown","architectural_style":"Greek Revival with Gothic Revival alterations","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Condition listed as good and altered; the church was reopened in 1948 and reorganized in 1951, and the church is occupied and in use with its cemetery.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:48.761964-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/44/7207/47720744/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/85000903.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85000903/edb4e40388-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85000903/edb4e40388-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Gjm1761","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Summerville-2.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Gjm1761</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:Summerville-2.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47720744","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summerville_Presbyterian_Church_and_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7637724"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/harnett-county/summerville-presbyterian-church-and-cemetery-85000903/"}