{"nrhp_refnum":"90000060","name":"First Baptist Church and Society","other_names":["First Baptist Cemetery"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Baptist St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Swansea","county":"Bristol County","state":"MA","lat":41.77113158600008,"lon":-71.26866025099997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1990-02-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Greek Revival Baptist church on Baptist Street in Swansea, Massachusetts, built 1848-1849, with the Baptist cemetery (1731) across the street. The architect is unknown.","why_significant":"The congregation traces to the first Baptist church in Massachusetts (1664) and the fourth in America, founded by the Reverend John Myles. The church is an intact example of mid-19th-century Greek Revival design for a rural congregation. The cemetery is the only surviving evidence of the congregation's early 18th-century relocation to present-day Swansea.","narrative":"Baptist Street in Swansea, Massachusetts, is home to a Greek Revival church dedicated in 1849 and an older burial ground across the road. The one-story clapboard building has a gable roof, a full pediment at the entrance end and a square bell tower. Inside, a restrained nave has a coffered plaster ceiling and 32 box pews that are probably original. An educational wing was added at the rear in the 1960s. The congregation descends from a church organized in 1663 under the Reverend John Myles, who had been ejected from his post in Swansea, Wales. It is recognized as the first Baptist church in Massachusetts and the fourth in America. After moving between sites, including one in present-day Barrington, Rhode Island, the congregation built an earlier meetinghouse in 1717 and the present church under Rev. J. J. Thatcher. The cemetery, enclosed by a rubblestone wall, holds about 37 stones dated 1731 to 1819.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Greek Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Church in good condition and cemetery in fair condition; church services and activities continue. Development near the Routes 6 and 136 intersection has threatened the setting.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.895919-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/33/7896/63789633/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/90000060.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90000060/3d99c21c41-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90000060/3d99c21c41-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Swansea_First_Baptist.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Swansea_First_Baptist.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63789633","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Baptist_Church_in_Swansea","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5452449"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/bristol-county/first-baptist-church-and-society-90000060/"}