Built 1854 (1854) VLR # 053-0308 Area 8 ha | NRHP Reference # 03000452 Designated VLR March 19, 2003 Opened 1854 Added to NRHP 22 May 2003 | |
 | ||
Location Approx. 2 mi. N of VA 7 at the jct of Allder School Rd. and Ketoctin Church Rd., Round Hill, Virginia Similar Ebenezer Baptist Churches, Thomas Balch Library, Great Smoky Mountains, Great Smoky Mountain, Splash Down Waterpark | ||
Ketoctin Baptist Church, also known as Short Hill Church, is a historic Baptist church located at Round Hill, Loudoun County, Virginia. It is listed on both the U.S. National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register.
Contents
History
In 1752, the Philadelphia Baptist Association dispatched four missionaries to "Ketocton" (then in Fairfax County) and Mill Creek (then in Frederick County, from which Berkeley County split off in 1772 and became part of West Virginia in 1863) to bring them into fellowship with other Regular Baptist congregations. On August 19, 1766, four Regular Baptist churches (Ketocton, Smith Creek Baptist, Mill Creek Baptist and Broad Run Baptist) disassociated from the Philadelphia Association and formed the Ketocton Association, which today includes nine historic churches. In 1775, the association voted to support disestablishment of the Anglican church in Virginia. After the American Revolutionary War, at its 1797 annual meeting, the association recommended the gradual emancipation of slaves, which proved controversial within the denomination. The association's minutes (and a history) through 1808 are available through several open sources.
Ketoctin, which lent its name to the group and which may derive from the same Native American word as the nearby Catoctin Mountains to the north, is part of one group along Route 7 en route to Winchester, Virginia. Another group clusters along what is now U.S. 211, in the Shenandoah valley including New Market, Virginia. Ketoctin pastors David Major (1722-1796) and John Gerrard (1720-1787) founded or help found several congregations in Fairfax, Frederick and Loudoun counties.
The association grew to 39 churches in 11 counties by 1820, when several churches split off to form the Columbia Baptist Association (for churches in or around the nation's capital). In the 1890s the Ketocton Association renamed itself the Primitive Baptist Association, without any significant change in doctrine.
Building
The current single-story, rectangular brick building with a gable roof in the Greek Revival style was built in 1854. It measures approximately 40 feet by 55 feet, and sits on a stone foundation. The interior features a trompe-l'œil painting attributed to Lucien Whiting Powell, a local artist (1846-1930).
Also located on the property is the contributing church cemetery with earliest grave recorded in 1777. It is enclosed by a fieldstone wall.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.