Friends Meetinghouse (Casco, Maine)

Last updated
Friends Meetinghouse
CascoME FriendsMeetinghouse.jpg
USA Maine location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Nearest city Casco, Maine
Coordinates 43°58′12″N70°31′56″W / 43.97000°N 70.53222°W / 43.97000; -70.53222 Coordinates: 43°58′12″N70°31′56″W / 43.97000°N 70.53222°W / 43.97000; -70.53222
Area1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built1814
NRHP reference No. 75000095 [1]
Added to NRHPSeptember 09, 1975

Friends Meetinghouse is a historic Quaker meeting house on Quaker Ridge Road in Casco, Maine. Built in 1814, it is the oldest surviving Quaker meeting house in the state. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

Contents

Description and history

The Friends Meetinghouse is located in a rural area of central Casco, on the west side of Quaker Ridge Road, about 0.75 miles (1.21 km) south of Maine State Route 11. It is a modest single-story wood-frame structure, with a gable roof and narrow clapboard siding. A shed-roofed entrance vestibule projects from the left side of the building, its roof extending from roughly the midpoint of the main roof slope. The front facade has single sash windows at the main and attic levels. The interior of the main space is divided roughly in two, with a fixed partition wall that has openable shutters on its upper half; this was so that the sexes would be divided, according to Quaker custom, while allowing communication between the sides to take place. The space is furnished with high-backed bench pews and a small parlor organ. [2]

The first Quaker Meetings were informal and widely spread throughout the southern part of Maine, with the first formal Meeting in Maine forming in 1730. Quakerism spread gradually into the interior of the State during the next 100 years. This meeting house was built in 1814. It served as the site of Casco's first town meeting, after it was separated from Raymond in 1841. Regular services ended in 1921, but the building has been used for annual or summer services since, primarily by summer residents. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

Amesbury Friends Meeting House United States historic place

The Amesbury Friends Meetinghouse is a Friends Meeting House at 120 Friend Street in Amesbury, Massachusetts. Built in 1850 under the guidance of John Greenleaf Whittier, it is home to one of the leading Quaker congregations of the region, and historically hosted quarterly meetings for Quakers from across eastern Massachusetts and southeastern New Hampshire. The meetinghouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.

Benjaminville Friends Meeting House and Burial Ground United States historic place

The Benjaminville Friends Meeting House and Burial Ground is a Friends Meeting House of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), located north of the rural village of Holder in McLean County, Illinois. It was once the site of a now-defunct village called Benjaminville, founded in 1856 after Quakers settled the area. More Quakers followed, and the burial ground, then the current meeting house in 1874, were constructed. This site, listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places since 1983, is all that remains of that village.

Buckingham Friends Meeting House United States historic place

The Buckingham Friends Meeting House is a historic Quaker meeting house at 5684 Lower York Road in Buckingham Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Built in 1768 in a "doubled" style, it is nationally significant as a model for many subsequent Friends Meeting Houses. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2003.

Harpswell Meetinghouse United States historic place

The Harpswell Meetinghouse is a historic colonial meeting house on Maine State Route 123 in Harpswell, Maine. Built in 1757-59 to provide space for both religious services and town meetings, it is a little-altered and well-preserved example of a once-common form, and is the oldest such surviving building in the state of Maine. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1968.

Universalist Society Meetinghouse United States historic place

The Universalist Society Meetinghouse is an historic Greek Revival meetinghouse at 3 River Road in Orleans, Massachusetts. Built in 1834, it was the only Universalist church built in Orleans, and is architecturally a well-preserved local example of Greek Revival architecture. The Meeting House is now the home of the Orleans Historical Society and is known as the Meeting House Museum. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

Quaker Meetinghouse (Adams, Massachusetts) United States historic place

The East Hoosac Quaker Meetinghouse is an historic Quaker meeting house in Adams, Berkshire County, Massachusetts. The meetinghouse's construction dates to the early 1780s. It now occupies a prominent position within the Maple Street Cemetery, the first burial ground in Adams. Unmarked graves of Adams' early Quaker settlers lie near the meetinghouse, an area now marked by a plaque. The meetinghouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

Neck Meetinghouse and Yard United States historic place

Known as Neck Meetinghouse and Yard, also known as the Quaker Meetinghouse & Graveyard, is a historic Quaker meetinghouse located at West Denton, Caroline County, Maryland. It is a one-story rectangular frame building with a pitched gable roof measuring 30 feet, 812 inches long and 20 feet, 5 inches deep. In the graveyard are six marked burials with stones dating from the 1850s to 1890, with some more recent interments. It is the only extant Friends meeting house in Caroline County, and one of only a few still standing on the Eastern Shore. The meeting house was utilized from September 26, 1802, when the first meeting was held in the building, until it was abandoned in 1890 for lack of funds and participants.

Colora Meetinghouse United States historic place

The Colora Meetinghouse is a historic Friends meeting house located at Colora, Cecil County, Maryland, United States.

Little Falls Meetinghouse United States historic place

The Little Falls Meetinghouse is a historic Friends meeting house located at Fallston, Harford County, Maryland, United States. It was constructed in 1843 and is a sprawling one-story fieldstone structure with shallow-pitched gable roof and a shed-roofed porch. The building replaced an earlier meetinghouse built in 1773. Also on the property is a cemetery and a one-story frame mid-19th century school building, with additions made post-1898 and in 1975. It features the characteristic two entrance doors and a sliding partition dividing the interior into the men's and women's sides. The Friends currently meet on the former men's side of the meetinghouse, and the women's side is only used for large groups and special occasions.

South Meetinghouse United States historic place

The South Meetinghouse is a historic ward hall at 260 Marcy Street in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Completed in 1866, it is one of the city's finest examples of Italianate architecture, and a rare surviving example of a 19th-century ward hall. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. It continues to be used as a community resource.

Dover Friends Meetinghouse United States historic place

The Dover Religious Society of Friends Meetinghouse is a historic Quaker meeting house at 141 Central Avenue in Dover, Strafford County, New Hampshire. Built in 1768 for a congregation established in the 17th century, it is the only surviving 18th-century Quaker meetinghouse in the state. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

Maple Grove Friends Church United States historic place

The Maple Grove Friends Church is a historic Quaker meeting house on U.S. Route 1A in the Maple Grove village of southern Fort Fairfield, Maine. Built in 1863 and renovated in 1906, it is believed to be the oldest ecclesiastical building in the Fort Fairfield area. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.

Pond Meeting House United States historic place

Pond Meeting House is a historic Quaker meeting house off United States Route 202 in China, Maine. Built in 1807, it is one of the oldest surviving buildings in the town, and an important element in the early life and spiritual growth of Quaker writer Rufus Jones. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

Nine Partners Meeting House and Cemetery United States historic place

The Nine Partners Meeting House and Cemetery is located at the junction of NY state highway 343 and Church Street, in the village of Millbrook, New York, United States. The meeting house, the third one on the site, was built by a group of Friends ("Quakers") from the Cape Cod region, Nantucket and Rhode Island in 1780.

Beekman Meeting House and Friends Cemetery United States historic place

Beekman Meeting House and Friends' Cemetery is located on Emans Road in LaGrangeville, New York, United States. The meeting house is a wooden building from the early 19th century that has been unused and vacant for decades. As a result, it is in an advanced state of decay, and mostly collapsed. The cemetery, better preserved, is located a short distance away.

Bradford Friends Meetinghouse United States historic place

Bradford Friends Meetinghouse, also known as Marshallton Meeting House, is a historic Quaker meeting house located at Marshallton in West Bradford Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1764-1765, and is a one-story, stone structure with a gable roof. A porch was added to two sides of the building in the 19th century. The interior is divided into four rooms, rather than the customary two. Abraham Marshall, father of botanist Humphry Marshall was instrumental in the establishment of the meeting in the 1720s. The meeting originally met from 1722 to 1727 at the Marshall home, Derbydown Homestead, from 1722 to 1727.

Mechanics Hall (Portland, Maine) United States historic place

Mechanics' Hall is a historic building and meeting space at 519 Congress Street in downtown Portland, Maine. Built in 1857-59 by and for the members of the Maine Charitable Mechanic Association, it is a well-preserved example of Italianate architecture executed in brick and stone, and a landmark of Portland's downtown business and arts district. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. The building, still owned by MCMA, houses the association's library. The Maine Charitable Mechanic Association was founded in 1815 as a social organization that promoted and supported the skilled trades and their practitioners. Its original members were master craftspeople and entrepreneurs and their apprentices.

North Sandwich Meeting House United States historic place

The North Sandwich Meeting House is a historic Quaker meeting house at the northwest junction of Quaker-Whiteface Road and Brown Hill Road in Sandwich, New Hampshire. Built in 1881, it is the best-preserved 19th-century Quaker meeting house in the county. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986, at which time it was the only active Quaker meeting house in Carroll County.

Friends School (Casco, Maine) United States historic place

The Friends School was a historic schoolhouse in the village center of Casco, Maine. Built in 1849, it was a well-preserved example of a 19th-century one-room schoolhouse. Converted to a museum operated by the local historical society, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996, and was destroyed by arsonists in 2018. It was located behind the town office building on Maine State Route 121.

Roaring Creek Friends Meeting House

The Roaring Creek Friends Meeting House is a historic place of worship for members of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, in rural Columbia County, Pennsylvania, near Numidia on Quaker Meeting House Road.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. 1 2 "NRHP nomination for Friends Meetinghouse". National Park Service. Retrieved 2015-11-26.