{"nrhp_refnum":"96000859","name":"Fly Creek Methodist Church","other_names":["First Methodist Episcopal Society in Fly Creek"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Co. Rt. 26, N of jct. with NY 28","address_restricted":false,"city":"Fly Creek","county":"Otsego County","state":"NY","lat":42.71933065500008,"lon":-74.98278375599995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1996-08-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A wood-frame Methodist church built in 1838 in the hamlet of Fly Creek, Town of Otsego, Otsego County, New York, about three miles west of Cooperstown. It is a single contributing building on a half-acre lot beside Fly Creek.","why_significant":"The nomination argues significance under Criterion C for architecture. The church is a representative early nineteenth century Greek Revival wood-frame church, adapted in the late nineteenth century toward the Akron Plan, a popular Methodist design. Its original form survives essentially intact, along with its late nineteenth century interior.","narrative":"Fly Creek Methodist Church is a clapboarded, timber-frame church with a frontal gable, built in 1838 for a Methodist congregation organized in 1812. It sits near the crossroads of the rural hamlet of Fly Creek, west of Cooperstown, on a lot that slopes toward the creek. Its restrained Greek Revival details include a heavy cornice, tall paneled doors and a three-stage tower holding a bell that has also marked the noon hour and emergencies for the hamlet. Later nineteenth century work added arched windows, painted-glass windows given by local farming families, a three-sided apse and a pipe organ. Inside, the balcony was enclosed with awning-like panels that can be raised, and curved pews were installed, giving the building a modified version of the Akron Plan favored by Methodist congregations. The church was listed for its architecture, as a well-preserved example of a rural church adapted to changing ideas of worship space, and it remains part of a largely intact nineteenth century hamlet.","period_of_significance":"1838-c1880","architect_builder":"unknown","architectural_style":"Greek Revival","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Still in religious use as a church; the form describes it as retaining a very high level of historic integrity.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:50.817493-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/96000859.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96000859/47b72e9393-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96000859/47b72e9393-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Doug Kerr from Upstate New York","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fly_Creek_Methodist_Church_Sep_10.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Doug Kerr from Upstate New York</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fly_Creek_Methodist_Church_Sep_10.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"06001004","name":"Fly Creek Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/new-york/fly-creek-historic-district-06001004/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75320933","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly_Creek_Methodist_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5463151"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/otsego-county/fly-creek-methodist-church-96000859/"}