Briceville Community Church
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Briceville Community Church and Cemetery
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Briceville Community Church and Cemetery
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| Location | State Route 116 |
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| Nearest city | Briceville, Tennessee |
| Coordinates | 36°10′43″N 84°10′59″W / 36.17861°N 84.18306°WCoordinates: 36°10′43″N 84°10′59″W / 36.17861°N 84.18306°W |
| Area | 3.2 acres (1.3 ha) |
| Built | 1887 |
| Architectural style | Gothic Revival |
| NRHP reference # | 03000697 |
| Added to NRHP | July 24, 2003 |
The Briceville Community Church is a nondenominational church located in Briceville, Tennessee, United States. Built in 1887, the church served as a center of social life and community affairs for the Coal Creek Valley during the valley's coal mining boom period in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. In 2003, the church was added to the National Register of Historic Places for its historical role and as an example of rural Gothic Revival architecture.
Mining companies identified the coal resources of the Coal Creek Valley in the late 1860s, and by the 1880s a half-dozen mines were in operation throughout the valley. A railroad spur line was completed up the valley to Briceville in 1888, the year after the completion of the Briceville Community Church. The church was used as a temporary jail for prisoners in the aftermath of the Coal Creek War, a labor uprising that began with the seizure of a convict stockade in Briceville in 1891. In the following decade, the church hosted memorial services for the Fraterville Mine disaster of 1902 and the Cross Mountain Mine disaster of 1911, and victims of both disasters are buried in the church's cemetery. The church housed a Methodist congregation until 1995, and today is still used for various community events.
The Briceville Community Church is located on a hill at the southern tip of "Root Hog Ridge," a flank of Vowell Mountain, and is situated near the center of Briceville. This hill rises approximately 20 feet (6.1 m) above the surrounding terrain, allowing the church to be visible from almost anywhere in the community. The church stands at the edge of the hill, and the cemetery stretches northward from the rear corner of the church up the hillslope, with several gravestones straddling the treeline along the property's boundaries. State Highway 116 passes along the base of the hill.
The Briceville community is located at the upper end of the Coal Creek Valley, a narrow valley that slices between Walden Ridge and the rugged areas of the Cumberland Mountains.
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