{"nrhp_refnum":"93001546","name":"First Baptist Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Polin Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Charleston","county":"Montgomery County","state":"NY","lat":42.84871550300005,"lon":-74.34482740499999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1994-01-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Exploration/Settlement","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A rural vernacular frame church and adjoining cemetery on Polin Road in the town of Charleston, Montgomery County, New York. The church is believed to have been built in the 1820s and remodeled in the 1860s; the congregation dates to ca. 1793.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the church is a representative example of nineteenth century rural vernacular religious architecture, showing late Federal/early Greek Revival form with Victorian-era overlays. The cemetery is a typical rural parish burial ground holding many of Charleston's early settlers. The property is also tied to the settlement-period history of rural Montgomery County.","narrative":"On a gentle rise on Polin Road in rural Charleston, Montgomery County, a one-and-one-half-story frame church overlooks farmland and the Mohawk Valley. The building is believed to date from the 1820s and was remodeled in the 1860s. It has clapboard siding, a gable roof with a pedimented front, round-arched windows with louvered shutters, and a square, hip-roofed bell tower. Beside it lies a cemetery with several hundred mostly modest limestone markers, a dry-laid stone wall, and a receiving vault from about 1890. Many early settlers and Revolutionary War veterans are buried there. The congregation was organized around 1793. The property was recognized for its representative rural church architecture and its link to the area's settlement history. The church stood vacant for nearly two decades before the Charleston Historical Society acquired it in 1978, and the interior lost much of its original fabric. The exterior, cemetery and rural setting retain strong integrity. The building now serves as a museum.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1793 - ca. 1900","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Early Republic: Federal; Late Victorian: Victorian (described as late Federal/early Greek Revival rural vernacular)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Now used as a museum and headquarters of the Charleston Historical Society, which acquired it in 1978 after about two decades of vacancy and vandalism; the interior has lost integrity.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:51.201208-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/93001546.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/93001546/30bd4c8169-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/93001546/30bd4c8169-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nelson E. Baldwin, Photographer","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baptist_Church,_State_Route_148,_Charleston_(Montgomery_County,_New_York).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nelson E. Baldwin, Photographer</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baptist_Church,_State_Route_148,_Charleston_(Montgomery_County,_New_York).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319002","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Baptist_Church_(Charleston,_New_York)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5452367"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/montgomery-county/first-baptist-church-93001546/"}