{"nrhp_refnum":"98001520","name":"Needwood Baptist Church and School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"US 17, 1 mi. S of Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation State Historic Site.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Brunswick","county":"Glynn County","state":"GA","lat":31.281919565000067,"lon":-81.44085071699999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1998-12-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Education","Black","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A rural African-American church and a one-room school on U.S. 17 near Brunswick in Glynn County, Georgia, one mile south of Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation. The wood-frame church dates from the 1870s with towers added c. 1885, and the school predates 1907.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that the church and school survive as an intact rural complex that served as the religious, educational and social center of a former plantation community. It is also presented as a typical, well-preserved example of a rural Black church, with original pews, towers, bell and school furnishings. The one-room school, used until the 1960s, is described as rare in Georgia at its original location.","narrative":"Needwood Baptist Church and School is a small rural complex beside U.S. Highway 17 outside Brunswick, Georgia, on land once part of large plantations. The church is a one-story, weatherboarded frame building with a metal roof and two front towers joined by an enclosed porch. Its core dates from the 1870s, the towers and an 1884 bell were added about 1885, and a rear addition followed in 1918. Inside are tongue-and-groove walls, vertical wainscoting and about thirty original pews. Beside it stands a one-room schoolhouse built before 1907, which kept its blackboard and desks and was used until the 1960s. The congregation formed in 1866 as Broadfield Baptist Church, organized by freedpeople after the Civil War, and took the Needwood name around 1885. The property was listed as an intact church-and-school complex that reflects African-American community life, education and religion, and as a typical example of rural Black church architecture.","period_of_significance":"c.1885-1948","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"No particular style (classified as unknown); similar to many rural African-American churches","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The church remains an active congregation, though membership has dwindled. The school was last used in the 1960s and later served as a church fellowship hall.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:43.328949-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/98001520.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/98001520/a8abb32762-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/98001520/a8abb32762-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Ebyabe","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GA_Brunswick_Needwood_Baptist_Church01.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ebyabe</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:GA_Brunswick_Needwood_Baptist_Church01.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93208438","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Needwood_Baptist_Church_and_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15051819"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/glynn-county/needwood-baptist-church-and-school-98001520/"}