Hopewell Friends Meeting House (Frederick County, Virginia) facts for kids
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Hopewell Friends Meeting House
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Hopewell Friends Meeting House, September 2011
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 Location in Virginia
Location in the United States
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| Nearest city | Clear Brook |
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| Area | 8 acres (3.2 ha) |
| Built | 1759–1761 (original) 1788–1794 (expansion) |
| Built by | Thomas McClun |
| NRHP reference No. | 80004190 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | March 28, 1980 |
The Hopewell Friends Meeting House is a special building from the 1700s. It is a meeting house for Quakers, a type of Christian group. You can find it in northern Frederick County, Virginia, near the town of Clear Brook. This historic place is important because it shows us how Quakers lived and worshipped long ago.
Contents
The Story of Hopewell Friends Meeting House
How It All Began
The Hopewell Friends Meeting started in 1734. It was first called "Opeckan," named after a nearby stream called Opequon Creek. This makes it the oldest Quaker meeting in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. Many of the first Quaker families who settled here came from Pennsylvania and Maryland.
In 1734, the Quakers decided they needed a place to worship. They built a simple log meeting house. A famous Quaker doctor from London, John Fothergill, even visited this meeting in 1736. Sadly, the log meeting house burned down in 1757. Two years later, in 1759, a house fire also destroyed almost all of their early records.
Building the Current Meeting House
After the fire, a new meeting house was built between 1759 and 1761. The builder was Thomas McClun. This new building was made from strong limestone. It measured about 33 feet by 44 feet.
The Quaker community grew a lot. So, from 1789 to 1794, they made the meeting house much bigger. They added a new section on the west side, which was 30 feet by 30 feet. This almost doubled the size of the building.
Inside, the meeting house has a large open space. There's a raised area, like a balcony, along the south and west walls. This balcony still has its old benches. Stairs lead up to it from the middle of the south wall. The main floor also has old benches. The whole inside looks very simple, with plain walls and ceilings. This simple style is typical of Quaker meeting houses.
A Time of Division and Coming Together
In 1827, there was a big split among Quakers, known as the Great Separation. Two main groups formed: Hicksite Quakers and Orthodox Quakers. At Hopewell, these two groups shared the meeting house. Each group used one half of the building. They even buried their dead in the same cemetery nearby. In 1870, a stone wall was built around the cemetery.
Over time, the two groups started to work together again. In 1910, they both helped repair the meeting house. This act of working together helped to heal their differences. It's believed that the shape of the roof today comes from this repair work.
Later Years and Today
In 1934, Hopewell celebrated its 200th birthday! Two years later, a book called Hopewell Friends History, 1734-1934 was published. It shared the history and family records of the meeting.
On May 3, 1980, the Hopewell Meeting House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This means it's a very important historic site. In 1999, the Hopewell meeting joined with another Quaker meeting from Winchester, Virginia. They formed the Hopewell Centre Monthly Meeting. Today, this meeting is part of the Baltimore Yearly Meeting. In 2011, the Hopewell Centre Monthly Meeting had over 100 members.
