Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 06/13/2001
NRHP Listing Date 01/24/2002
NRHP Reference Number 01001518
First Baptist Church of Covington, historically the city’s largest African American congregation, was organized in 1870. The first church, built in the early 1870s, was demolished to make way for a Gothic Revival frame edifice built about 1890 on the 300 block of South Maple Avenue. In 1911, the African American construction firm James R. Hunter & Sons built the sanctuary that now serves the congregation at 337 South Lexington Avenue. The Gothic/Colonial Revival brick building of 1911 features a corner belfry tower, lancet-arched, stained-glass windows, and a modernistic 1955 education wing designed by parishioner Forrest A. Harvey III.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Updated: January 14, 2022
