About this property
Shofner's Lutheran Chapel is a historic church on Thompson's Creek near Shelbyville, Tennessee, United States. The church and adjacent cemetery are listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Shofners' Lutheran Church and Cemetery. The church was established by Martin Shofner in 1808. A log church was built on a portion of the land grant that Shofner had received for Revolutionary War service. The church is said to be the first Lutheran congregation in Tennessee or anywhere west of the Allegheny Mountains. The current church building is a clapboard Greek Revival-influenced building built around 1870. The benches in its interior came from an earlier log church building and are made from solid walnut. The congregation is no longer active, but the descendants of Martin Shofner continue to use the church for special occasions. The church building and cemetery were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. In 2008, the Tennessee Preservation Trust placed the church on the organization's annual list of the state's "Most Endangered Historic Places" because of concerns that the planned widening of U.S. Route 41A would adversely affect the church's historic landscape and viewshed. The Tennessee Department of Transportation later revised its construction plans for the highway project to avoid adverse impacts. On June 9, 2014, a storm damaged the church roof and knocked down some trees in the churchyard. Shoffner, Allen (2008). A Bicentennial History of Shofner's Lutheran Church: The Historic Church on the Waters of Thompson's Creek in Bedford County, Tennessee. ISBN 9781436350778.
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Everything a full report reveals about Shofners' Lutheran Church and Cemetery (Additional Documentation)
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Questions about this property
When was Shofners' Lutheran Church and Cemetery (Additional Documentation) listed on the National Register?
Shofners' Lutheran Church and Cemetery (Additional Documentation) was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 9, 1998.
What type of historic resource is Shofners' Lutheran Church and Cemetery (Additional Documentation)?
Shofners' Lutheran Church and Cemetery (Additional Documentation) is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Shofners' Lutheran Church and Cemetery (Additional Documentation)?
The period of significance for Shofners' Lutheran Church and Cemetery (Additional Documentation) is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Shofners' Lutheran Church and Cemetery (Additional Documentation)?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Shofners' Lutheran Church and Cemetery (Additional Documentation) will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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