{"nrhp_refnum":"89001419","name":"Trinity Methodist Church","other_names":["Old Trinity Methodist Church"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Broad and Lower Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Elizabethtown","county":"Bladen County","state":"NC","lat":34.62828700500006,"lon":-78.60287728199995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-09-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Old Trinity Methodist Church is a simple rectangular two-story frame church with a center-aisle plan, located on the high west bank of the Cape Fear River at the northwest corner of Broad Street and Lower Street in Elizabethtown, Bladen County, North Carolina. It was built ca. 1848.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the church is the oldest surviving meeting house in Elizabethtown and one of the few antebellum buildings surviving in the town, and that it is a well-preserved example of late Federal meeting house design. It is also linked to the town's 1840s economic growth from the naval stores turpentine market, and its interior retains an original slave gallery on three sides.","narrative":"Built around 1848 on the high west bank of the Cape Fear River in Elizabethtown, this simple frame church has a two-story, center-aisle plan under a gable roof, with a small belfry and pointed wood spire rising behind the main facade. Its original double front door, six-pane transom and fifteen-over-fifteen sash windows remain, and the second-floor gallery on three sides is intact, reached by an enclosed stair against the west wall. The Trinity congregation was founded in 1834 and purchased its town lot in 1836, and the church was dedicated in 1849. The building is regarded as the oldest surviving meeting house in Elizabethtown and one of the few antebellum buildings remaining in the town. It recalls the 1840s growth of the county seat, which was fueled by the naval stores trade in turpentine from longleaf pine forests. Its cemetery holds roughly two hundred stones, including Confederate casualties and well-preserved late nineteenth-century wooden markers.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1848","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Federal","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The church is in good condition and retains much of its integrity; it is owned by the North Carolina Methodist Conference and is being preserved by a group of church members, and the congregation moved to a new building in 1954.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:40.987611-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/85/7190/47719085/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/89001419.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001419/5e9eba20ea-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001419/5e9eba20ea-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trinity_Methodist_Church,_Elizabethtown.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trinity_Methodist_Church,_Elizabethtown.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719085","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_Methodist_Church_(Elizabethtown,_North_Carolina)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7842906"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/bladen-county/trinity-methodist-church-89001419/"}