Roaring Creek Friends Meeting House

Last updated July 12, 2019

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.^[1]

Columbia County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the population was 67,295. Its county seat is Bloomsburg. The county was created on March 22, 1813, from part of Northumberland County and named for Columbia, a poetic name for the United States that alludes to Christopher Columbus.

Numidia is a census-designated place (CDP) in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 244 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Bloomsburg–Berwick Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

In 1786, the first meeting (similar to a congregation in other denominations) was established at Roaring Creek under the sponsorship of Exeter Monthly Meeting. In 1796, when the meeting house was built, the meeting became a preparative meeting, as part of the Catawissa Monthly Meeting, along with preparative meetings at Fishing Creek and Muncy.

Muncy is a borough in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, United States. The name Muncy comes from the Munsee Indians who once lived in the area. The population was 2,663 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Williamsport, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. Muncy is located on the West Branch Susquehanna River, just south of the confluence of Muncy Creek with the river.

A decline in membership led the Catawissa Monthly Meeting to merge in 1814 with the Roaring Creek and Berwick meetings and relocate to the Roaring Creek Meeting House.^[2]

Berwick is a borough in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, United States, 28 miles (45 km) southwest of Wilkes Barre. As of the 2010 census, Berwick had a population of 10,477. It is one of the two principal communities of the Bloomsburg-Berwick, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area, a micropolitan area that covers Columbia and Montour counties, and had a combined population of 85,562 at the 2010 census.

Elias Hicks is believed to have spoken at the Roaring Creek meeting house. About 1827, after the "great separation" between Hicksite and Orthodox Quakers, the meeting house was used by the Hicksites. By 1916, meetings for worship were held only once a month so the meeting was “laid down” or closed. It is now owned by Locust Township. Quakers in the area meet at Millville.^[1]

Elias Hicks was a traveling Quaker minister from Long Island, New York. In his ministry he promoted unorthodox doctrines that led to controversy, which caused the first major schism within the Religious Society of Friends. Elias Hicks was the older cousin of the painter Edward Hicks.

Millville is a borough in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 948. It is part of the Bloomsburg–Berwick Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Architecture

Though log meeting houses were commonly built by Pennsylvania Quakers during the early period of settlement, they were usually replaced quickly by stone, brick or frame construction.

The meeting house is divided into two unequally sized meeting rooms, one for the men’s business meeting and worship, the other for the women’s business meeting. The rooms are divided by a retractable wood partition. The partition has sections of three wood panels. In each section the middle panel folds down allowing communication, and the top panel can be propped up to fully open the partition. A door in the middle of the partition provides access between the rooms.

The meeting house has one story, measuring 30'-4" x 36'-5”, four bays by two bays. It is built of hewn logs, with chinking and corner boards. It has a rubble stone foundation, and a side-gable roof with wooden shingles. No chimneys are extant. Windows have six-over-six panes with batten shutters. The interior walls and ceiling are covered with wooden planks. Two rows of facing benches, where visiting ministers and senior members of the meeting would sit, are on a single raised tier. A simple set of stairs leading to the main doorway is the only exterior construction.

A burying ground is walled off, north of the meeting house.^[1]

Facing benches on the left, partly open partition in the center rear
Facing benches on the left, closed partition in the center
Women's meeting for business. Facing benches center, fully open partition on left

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References

Coordinates: 40°53′53″N76°23′55″W / 40.8981°N 76.3986°W / 40.8981; -76.3986

1 2 3 4 Lavoie, Catherine C. (2001). "Roaring Creek Friends Meeting House" (PDF). HABS NO. PA-6691. Historic American Buildings Survey. Retrieved August 15, 2016.
↑ "National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania" (Searchable database). CRGIS: Cultural Resources Geographic Information System.Note: This includes Marjorie Robbins and John L. Walker (n.d.). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Catawissa Friends Meetinghouse" (PDF). Retrieved August 15, 2016.

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[HABS-1] 1 2 3 4 Lavoie, Catherine C. (2001). "Roaring Creek Friends Meeting House" (PDF). HABS NO. PA-6691. Historic American Buildings Survey. Retrieved August 15, 2016.

[arch-2] "National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania" (Searchable database). CRGIS: Cultural Resources Geographic Information System.Note: This includes Marjorie Robbins and John L. Walker (n.d.). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Catawissa Friends Meetinghouse" (PDF). Retrieved August 15, 2016.