{"nrhp_refnum":"97000533","name":"Church of the Immaculate Conception and the Michael Ferrall Family Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"145 S. King St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Halifax","county":"Halifax County","state":"NC","lat":36.32611971600005,"lon":-77.59108422499997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1997-06-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History","Art"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small Gothic Revival frame Catholic church built in 1889 at 145 South King Street, Halifax, North Carolina, together with the adjoining Michael Ferrall Family Cemetery, which holds an 1859 brick-and-stucco family vault inside a cast-iron fence. The church was designed by Edwin Forrest Durang.","why_significant":"The nomination argues statewide significance in architecture, social history and funerary art. The church is the southernmost known work of Philadelphia architect Edwin Forrest Durang, is unusually well preserved, and is the only known surviving nineteenth-century Gothic Revival frame Catholic church in North Carolina. Together with the cemetery, it shows the close tie between family and church in the Ferrall family's Catholic community.","narrative":"This small frame church and the family burial ground beside it sit on South King Street in Halifax, North Carolina. The church, built in the spring of 1889 and dedicated on 5 May of that year, is a twenty-by-thirty-seven-foot building with lancet-arch windows, two unequal front towers, a rose window and an unusual tunnel-vault ceiling of reeded boards. It was designed by Philadelphia architect Edwin Forrest Durang and has changed very little since it was built. The adjoining cemetery holds a brick and stucco vault dated 1859, enclosed by a cast-iron fence with a granite gateway. Michael Ferrall, an Irish Catholic immigrant merchant, built the vault, and for decades Catholic services were held in his parlor before the church was erected on part of his property. The church is the only known surviving nineteenth-century Gothic Revival frame Catholic church in North Carolina. Ferrall's great-granddaughter, Nannie Marie Gary, cared for it until 1969 and left it to the Diocese of Raleigh.","period_of_significance":"1859-1947","architect_builder":"Durang, Edwin Forrest--architect","architectural_style":"Gothic Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The church closed in 1969 on the death of Nannie Marie Gary, who bequeathed the property to the Diocese of Raleigh. A fund established from her estate supports its maintenance. Current functions are listed as religious facility and cemetery.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:49.633405-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/8/7207/47720708/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/97000533.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"10001128","name":"Town of Halifax Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/north-carolina/town-of-halifax-historic-district-10001128/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47720708","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Immaculate_Conception_(Halifax,_North_Carolina)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5117958"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/halifax-county/church-of-the-immaculate-conception-and-the-michael-ferrall-family-cemetery-97000533/"}