{"nrhp_refnum":"92001391","name":"Kirkland Grove Campground","other_names":["Kirkland Grove Camp Ground","VDHR File No. 66-89"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"VA 779, 1.6 mi. S of Heathsville","address_restricted":false,"city":"Heathsville","county":"Northumberland County","state":"VA","lat":37.900366953500054,"lon":-76.48543566448134,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1992-10-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Baptist religious campground of 23 1/2 acres on State Route 779 south of Heathsville, Northumberland County, Virginia, established in 1892. Three contributing wooden buildings survive: a tabernacle, a camper's tent and a preacher's tent.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that it is one of about six remaining nineteenth-century religious campgrounds in Virginia and the only Northern Neck campground that still has its tabernacle and holds yearly revivals. The three surviving buildings illustrate the center of worship, the evangelical minister and the congregation. The tabernacle is also a notable example of vernacular timber construction by local craftsman William Dandridge Cockrell.","narrative":"Kirkland Grove Campground is a Baptist camp meeting site on 23 1/2 acres south of Heathsville, Virginia, established in 1892 and named for the Baptist minister Dr. William Heath Kirk. Week-long summer services held here became a major social event for the area. Three original wooden buildings remain. The central Tabernacle, 90 by 90 feet, was designed and built by local carpenter William Dandridge Cockrell. It has open timber framing on concrete piers, a stepped four-tier hipped roof with a bell tower, and 101 fixed benches around the pulpit. The Camper's Tent and the Preacher's Tent are two-story vernacular buildings whose upper floors overhang porches. Forty-two such family tents once lined the avenues around the Tabernacle. The campground is regarded as one of Virginia's few surviving nineteenth-century religious campgrounds and the only one in the Northern Neck that retains its tabernacle and still holds annual revivals. It has been used every summer since it was built.","period_of_significance":"1892-1941","architect_builder":"Cockrell, William Dandridge","architectural_style":"No style (vernacular)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still used for church meetings, revivals, reunions and youth camp activities; the Camper's Tent is in serious disrepair and the Preacher's Tent is used for storage.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:59.673925-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/8/6823/41682308/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/92001391.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/92001391/f77e023042-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/92001391/f77e023042-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kirkland_Grove_Campground_main_pavilion.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kirkland_Grove_Campground_main_pavilion.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41682308","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirkland_Grove_Campground","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15238587"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/northumberland-county/kirkland-grove-campground-92001391/"}