RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Two historic churches in Central Virginia were included in the seven sites added to the Virginia Landmarks Register last week. According to a Sept. 22 release from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR), Goldmine Baptist Church in Louisa County and Mount Carmel Baptist Church in Albemarle County are now listed in the Virginia Landmarks Register (VLR). This comes as the Commonwealth’s Board of Historic Resources approved a total of seven sites for designation on the VLR during its quarterly public meeting on Sept. 17 in Orange County. Goldmine Baptist Church, built in Louisa County around 1852, is distinct from other churches in the area built in the same period. Its architectural style incorporates Greek and Gothic Revival and local construction techniques, DHR said in the release. (Photo: Ari Calos/Virginia Department of Historic Resources) "The church is notable for its stepped gable, original moldings, curved brick cornice, and hand-hewn interior Doric columns," the release said. Mount Carmel Baptist Church in Albemarle County was built in 1908 and expanded later in the 20th century, the release said. According to church historians, the congregation was founded in 1879 by people formerly enslaved at nearby plantations of the Brown family, for whom the county's rural Brown's Cove region is named. "The current church," the DHR said, "is locally distinguished for its historic role as a cultural and social center for a rural African American community in Brown’s Cove starting in the early 1900s." (Photo: Joanna McKnight/Virginia Department of Historic Resources) Several other houses, homesteads and schools throughout the state were also added to the Virginia Landmarks Register during the Sept. 17 meeting. To learn more, visit the Virginia Department of Historic Resources website. ...read more read less