Friends Meetinghouse (Uxbridge, Massachusetts)

Infobox_nrhp | name =Friends Meetinghouse
nrhp_type =


caption =
nearest_city= Uxbridge, Massachusetts
lat_degrees = 42
lat_minutes = 2
lat_seconds = 21
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 71
long_minutes = 37
long_seconds = 16
long_direction = W
locmapin = Massachusetts
area =
built =1770
architect= Unknown
architecture= No Style Listed
added = January 24, 1974
governing_body = Private
refnum=74000395cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service] The [http://www.blackstonedaily.com/quaker.htm Friends Meetinghouse] is an historic religious building located at the junction of Routes 146A (Quaker Highway) and 98 (Aldrich Street) in Uxbridge, Massachusetts. On January 24, 1974, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

History

The Friends Meeting House is one of the last crude brick church structures remaining in America. This building is on the National Registry of Historic Buildings. The Friends Meeting House was built in Uxbridge, Massachusetts in 1770, by Quakers from the Quaker Community in Smithfield, Rhode Island. cite web |title= "Walking tours - Uxbridge"|publisher= Blackstone Daily |url= http://www.blackstonedaily.com/Outdoors&Nature/WTuxbridge.htm |accessdate= 2007-09-23] It was built on the farm of Moses Farnum, circa 1769, from bricks made from a brickyard across the street. cite web |title= "Walking tours - Uxbridge"|publisher= Blackstone Daily |url=url= http://www.blackstonedaily.com/Outdoors&Nature/WTuxbridge.htm |accessdate= 2007-09-23] There were separate entrances for men and women. cite web |title= "Walking tours - Uxbridge"|publisher= Blackstone Daily |url= http://www.blackstonedaily.com/Outdoors&Nature/WTuxbridge.htm |accessdate= 2007-09-23] The structure is two stories and has a balcony. The "Quaker City" settlement is one of the earliest resettlements of Quakers into the Massachusetts Colony following their expulsion by the Puritans in the 17th century.

The NPS, National Park Service Website describes this site as the following: “Uxbridge vicinity. FRIENDS MEETINGHOUSE, S of Uxbridge on MA 146, 1770-1776. Brick, 2 stories, rectangular gabled roof, 2 interior chimneys; 2-story gabled entrance vestibule, early-19th C.; simple interior, 2nd-floor gallery; interior alterations, early- 19th C. Two reconstructed outbuildings, cemetery. Typical of Quaker meetinghouse in New England. Private”cite web|title=”Report: NPS Uxbridge Vicinity, Friends Meetinghouse”; publisher=NPS.gov|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/iwisapi/explorer.dll?IWS_SCHEMA=NRIS1&IWS_LOGIN=1&IWS_REPORT=100000040]

Quakers from Rhode Island maintain this building, and hold monthly services there. This historic church was the church home for fiery Abolitionist, Abby Kelley Foster.cite web |title= Uxbridge, Friends Meetinghouse |publisher= NPS |url= http://www.nps.gov/archive/blac/the_corridor/map%20pages/sights%20map/millville.htm#friends |accessdate= 2007-09-29] She was an ulta-abolitionist who led Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone into the abolition movement. She was later disowned by the Uxbridge Meeting for radical abolition speeches.

The earliest Quakers who settled here from Smithfield and Providence, RI, were among the first in America who personally renounced slavery and freed slaves. The early Quakers here were related to the religious group of Moses Brown, who helped found Brown University. There are a number of Quaker homes built in this area, which was known as Quaker City, Aldrich Village, and the village of Ironstone, Massachusetts.

An almshouse cemetery nearby was relocated with the Route 146 construction between 1981-1984 and resulted in historic archeology findings published by University of Florida researchers.cite web| |publisher=University of Florida|date=1992|title =”“The Historical Archaeology of Mortuary Behavior: Coffin Hardware from Uxbridge, Massachusetts; Abstract: Edward Bell”|url=http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/davidson/Arch%20of%20Death/Week%2013/Bell%201990.pdf|accessdate=2007-11-01]

ee also

*List of Registered Historic Places in Uxbridge, Massachusetts

References

External links

*cite web |title= National Park Service: Uxbridge, Friends Meetinghouse |publisher= NPS |url= http://www.nps.gov/archive/blac/the_corridor/map%20pages/sights%20map/millville.htm#friends |accessdate= 2007-09-29 [http://www.blackstonedaily.com/quaker.htm]
* [http://www.blackstonedaily.com/quaker.htm Friends Meetinghouse, The Old Brick, 1770, Blackstone Daily, with picture]