{"nrhp_refnum":"85002766","name":"Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church","other_names":["DHL File #09-29"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"VA 663","address_restricted":false,"city":"Forest","county":"Bedford (city and county)","state":"VA","lat":37.37791927200004,"lon":-79.30818906199994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-11-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small, brick, temple-form Greek Revival Episcopal church built about 1844 on Old Forest Road (State Route 663) near Forest, Bedford County, Virginia, with a cellar, a courtyard of twentieth-century parish houses and a graveyard.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the church is a well-preserved example of the small, rural Greek Revival parish church built in the Virginia Piedmont in the second quarter of the 19th century. It was also a focal point in the Lower Piedmont for the reorganization of the Anglican Church into the Episcopal Church. It is associated with the Reverend Nicholas Hamner Cobbs, who founded the parish and later became first Bishop of Alabama.","narrative":"Set in the rolling hills of Bedford County's Western Piedmont, St. Stephen's Episcopal Church is a small brick meeting house of about 36 by 61 feet, built around 1844 in the Greek Revival style. Its three-bay facade is laid in Flemish bond, with wooden lintels and paterae over the openings, and the interior keeps its original box pews. A chancel and robing room were added about 1898, and parish houses were added in 1954-55 and 1980-81, forming a courtyard in front of the graveyard. The parish was established in 1824-25 by the Reverend Nicholas Hamner Cobbs on land once part of Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest tract. Cobbs went on to become first Bishop of Alabama, and a later rector, Richard Hooker Wilmer, also became Bishop of Alabama. The church is regarded as a rare, simple, rural example among the Greek Revival brick churches of western Central Virginia, and as a center of the Episcopal revival in the region.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Greek Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in excellent condition, with an active congregation; used as a religious property.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:00.620492-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/62/6797/41679762/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/85002766.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85002766/d560ac2b43-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85002766/d560ac2b43-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"William L. Hite","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St-Stephens-Church_Bedford-Co-Va_6mp.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">William L. Hite</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:St-Stephens-Church_Bedford-Co-Va_6mp.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41679762","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Stephen%27s_Episcopal_Church_(Forest,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7402188"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/bedford/saint-stephens-episcopal-church-85002766/"}