Bethesda Presbyterian Church (Houstonville, North Carolina)
Bethesda Presbyterian Church, Session House and Cemetery | |
![]() Front of the church, April 2022 | |
Location | SR 2359 |
---|---|
Nearest city | Amity Hill, North Carolina |
Coordinates | 35°43′15″N 80°48′19″W / 35.72083°N 80.80528°W |
Area | 5 acres (2.0 ha) |
Built | 1853 |
Architectural style | vernacular Greek Revival |
MPS | Iredell County MRA |
NRHP reference No. | 80002855[1] |
Added to NRHP | December 8, 1980 |
Bethesda Presbyterian Church, Session House and Cemetery is a historic Presbyterian church, session house, and cemetery located in Chambersburg Township, Iredell County, North Carolina. It was built in 1853, and is a one-story, three bay by five bay, rectangular vernacular Greek Revival style frame church. It has a pedimented, temple form, front gable roof and an unusual front recessed balcony. It is the oldest church building in Iredell County. Also on the property is the contributing session house, also built in 1853, and church cemetery with about 200 gravestones.[2]
It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.[1]
History
The Bethesda Presbyterian Church was organized on August 23, 1847 near Amity Hill in Iredell County. The original fourteen members of the church had come from the Third Creek, Back Creek, Thyatira, and Fourth Creek Presbyterian churches in Iredell and Rowan Counties. The first pastor in 1848 was the Rev. Thomas E. Davis. Until the first building was built, the congregation met in brush arbors and a nearby school house. The membership was 85 in 1855, including 46 white, 36 slave, and three free black members. Initially, slaves and black members sat in the balcony of the church. The church was still in use in 2022.[2]
References
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ a b Laura A. W. Phillips (February 1980). "Bethesda Presbyterian Church, Session House and Cemetery" (pdf). National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory. North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved 2015-01-01.
External links
Media related to Bethesda Presbyterian Church (Houstonville, North Carolina) at Wikimedia Commons
- Presbyterian churches in North Carolina
- Cemeteries in North Carolina
- Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina
- Greek Revival church buildings in North Carolina
- Churches completed in 1853
- 19th-century Presbyterian church buildings in the United States
- Churches in Iredell County, North Carolina
- National Register of Historic Places in Iredell County, North Carolina
- Central North Carolina Registered Historic Place stubs