The Bruington Rural Historic District in King and Queen County is composed of buildings, structures, sites, and landscape features that reveal the community’s evolution from the mid-1700s into the 1960s. The district originated as a small collection of plantations that formed a community around the Bruington Baptist Church after its construction in 1790. Robert Baylor Semple, a state and national leader within the Baptist faith, led the congregation there until his death in 1831. During the post-Civil War era, shifting labor and commercial markets prompted many in the Bruington community to turn to organizations such as the Grange, a fraternal order that educated farmers about new farming practices. Although many of the Bruington Rural Historic District’s notable architectural resources date to the 18^th and 19^th centuries, its full story stretches into the early and mid-20^th century as land use and domestic life there changed.