{"nrhp_refnum":"85001497","name":"First Baptist Church of Deerfield","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Herkimer Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Utica","county":"Oneida County","state":"NY","lat":43.11425759400004,"lon":-75.20179661899994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-07-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A wooden frame Baptist church built in 1811 on Herkimer Road in the Deerfield area, now the northern part of Utica, Oneida County, New York. The property includes an adjacent nineteenth-century cemetery and a modern church hall built in 1966.","why_significant":"The church is presented as a distinctive example of vernacular rural meeting house architecture with restrained Federal style detailing, reflecting the New England origins of its builders. It is the oldest religious building in the area and survives remarkably intact. The adjacent burial ground holds the graves of many of Deerfield's first settlers.","narrative":"Built in 1811 on Herkimer Road in the Deerfield area of Utica, this wooden frame church is a rural meeting house with Federal style details. It is rectangular, four bays deep, with a square entrance tower, clapboard siding and a gently sloping gable roof. Inside, the original staircase, balcony railing, turned columns, wainscoting and pulpit show fine vernacular craftsmanship, while the maple and walnut pews replaced the original box pews after the Civil War. A cemetery beside the church holds settlers and veterans of several wars. The Baptist society organized in 1798 and met in homes, an inn, a schoolhouse and a barn before the building was erected. It was the first religious structure in the town and remains the oldest in the area. Services lapsed in 1890, the building was repaired from 1919, and Baptist worship resumed in 1954. Alterations have been few, mainly the closing of two facade windows and the new pews, both before 1900.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Vernacular meeting house with Federal style details","criteria":[],"status_note":"Marked excellent condition and occupied, with an active Baptist congregation; the balcony was to be reopened because of an expanding congregation.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:42.838091-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/85001497.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85001497/4aa891d69e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85001497/4aa891d69e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"KrisBellino","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_Baptist_Church_of_Deerfield_in_Utica_New_York_designated_11_July_1985.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">KrisBellino</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:First_Baptist_Church_of_Deerfield_in_Utica_New_York_designated_11_July_1985.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75320191","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Baptist_Church_of_Deerfield","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5452462"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/oneida-county/first-baptist-church-of-deerfield-85001497/"}