Quaker Meetinghouse - Adams, MA
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 42° 37.623 W 073° 07.543
18T E 653692 N 4721103
A Quaker (Friends) Meetinghouse is located on a hilltop on the southwest part of Maple Street Cemetery, a municipal cemetery in Adams, MA.
Waymark Code: WM138W4
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 10/14/2020
Views: 1
Commonly called Quakers, this Christian denomination is officially known as the Religious Society of Friends. Their core values include following a simple life, pacifism, personal integrity, community, and equality. They build simple places of worship called meetinghouses.
The Quaker Meetinghouse in Adams, MA is a simple wooden, clapboard covered, structure that is 36' long by 28' wide with a gabled roof and a single brick interior chimney. It was erected by the members of the Quaker community in 1782 and used until the community moved to western New York in 1842. It is still used today as a meetinghouse during Quaker reunions.
A bronze plaque placed in front of the meetinghouse provide additional information about the meetinghouse and the Quaker community. It is inscribed:
FRIENDS
MEETING HOUSE
Built in 1782 by Quakers who had
settled Adams (then East Hoosuc)
from Smithfield, R. I. and Dartmouth,
Mass. in 1769. Coming together from
the farms in this valley, the Friends
worshipped here for sixty years
before the meeting was laid down
upon their removal to Western New
York. The famous suffragist, Susan
B. Anthony, grew up in this meeting
and from her Quaker background
developed her concerns for temper-
ance and freedom for women. The
building, unchanged since 1782, dis-
plays a variety of handiworks —
symbol of the Quaker convincement
that each man must be guided by
his own inner light.
ERECTED BY THE
ADAMS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS DESCENDANTS
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This Quaker Meetinghouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.