This country Greek Revival brick church was built in 1859 to serve a Spotsylvania County congregation founded in 1788. It was at Massaponax Baptist Church, on May 21, 1864, that Gen. Ulysses S. Grant held a war council following the Union victory at the battle of Spotsylvania Court House. Soldiers removed the pews from the Massaponax Baptist Church and arranged them in a circle in the yard. Timothy O’Sullivan, a photographer traveling with the army, captured the scene on glass plates. The widely published photograph shows Grant with several of his generals, as well as assistant secretary of war Charles A. Dana. One of the outstanding photographers of the mid-19th century, O’Sullivan is known for his subsequent images of the American west, as well as for his record of the Civil War. His unique war-time photographs show the generals and their staffs conferring, studying maps, and writing dispatches.
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
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia