{"nrhp_refnum":"94000430","name":"Rocky Spring Presbyterian Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Rocky Spring Rd., approx. .5 mi. NW of Funk Rd., LetterkennyTownship","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chambersburg","county":"Franklin County","state":"PA","lat":39.98875063000003,"lon":-77.67617030899999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1994-05-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Exploration/Settlement"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-and-a-half-story Georgian-style brick church with limestone foundations, built in 1794, on a knoll above a spring about two miles northwest of Chambersburg in Letterkenny Township, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, with an adjoining early cemetery.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the church is the only known remaining 18th-century brick church in Franklin County and the least altered of the early Scotch-Irish Presbyterian churches in the lower Cumberland Valley. Its interior, including the wine goblet pulpit and sounding board, survives largely unaltered, and the congregation's role in settlement history and the Revolutionary War is cited as further significance.","narrative":"Built in 1794 by the contractor Walter Beatty, Rocky Spring Presbyterian Church is a four-by-six-bay brick building in the Georgian style, set on a knoll above a spring in Letterkenny Township, Franklin County. Its brick walls rest on limestone foundations, and the date appears in header bricks in the east gable. The interior remains largely original, with boxed pews of unpainted pine, a prussian blue octagonal pulpit known as the wine goblet pulpit, and a painted star on the underside of its sounding board. Original windows, sash, and shutters survive. The church replaced an earlier log building as the congregation grew. Its pastor, the Reverend John Craighead, reportedly led most of the male congregation into the Revolutionary War. The adjoining cemetery holds early Scotch-Irish settlers, including Sarah Wilson, founder of Wilson College. The property is valued for its rare survival of an 18th-century interior and for its link to the Scotch-Irish settlement of the Cumberland Valley.","period_of_significance":"1794-ca. 1900","architect_builder":"Walter Beatty (builder)","architectural_style":"Georgian","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The church appears to be in excellent condition, with replacement asphalt roofing and mid-20th-century brick steps and railings.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:36.644508-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/94000430.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94000430/b596d053ff-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94000430/b596d053ff-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Vtaylorphd","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rocky_Spring_Presbyterian_Church,_Fall_2013.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Vtaylorphd</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rocky_Spring_Presbyterian_Church,_Fall_2013.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996236","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Spring_Presbyterian_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7356017"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/franklin-county/rocky-spring-presbyterian-church-94000430/"}