Quaker Meetinghouse (Adams, Massachusetts) facts for kids
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Quaker Meetinghouse
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U.S. Historic district
Contributing property |
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The meetinghouse is surrounded by the graves of the Maple Street Cemetery
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 Location in Massachusetts
Location in the United States
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| Location | Maple Street Cemetery, Adams, Massachusetts |
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| Built | 1781 |
| Part of | Maple Street Cemetery (ID04000536) |
| NRHP reference No. | 76000236 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | August 17, 1976 |
| Designated CP | June 2, 2004 |
The East Hoosac Quaker Meetinghouse is an old building in Adams, Massachusetts. It's a special place where Quakers, a type of Christian group, used to meet. This meetinghouse was built a long time ago, in the early 1780s.
Today, it stands in the Maple Street Cemetery, which was the very first burial ground in Adams. This cemetery is also a special historic place. Close by, there are graves of the first Quaker settlers in Adams. These graves don't have names on them, but a plaque now marks the area. The meetinghouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. This means it's an important historical site in the United States.
About the Meetinghouse
The Quaker Meetinghouse stands on a high spot in the Maple Street Cemetery. It's a simple, rectangular building made of wood. It has two floors and measures about 28 feet by 36 feet.
Building Design
Quakers believe in simplicity, so the building has no fancy decorations. The outside is covered in wooden boards. The front of the building has two doors. One door was for men, and the other was for women. The doors and window shutters are made of plain wooden planks. A chimney sticks out from the roof near one end of the building.
Inside, the building used to have a wall that separated the men from the women. Parts of this wall could be moved. People sat on benches. There were also fireplaces on the women's side of both floors to keep warm.
Meetinghouse History
Quakers were the first people to settle in Adams. Most of them came from a place called Smithfield, Rhode Island, in the 1760s. The area was first known as East Hoosac.
The meetinghouse you see today was built in 1784. It was used regularly by the local Quaker community until 1842. By then, fewer Quakers lived in the area, so the building was no longer needed for meetings.
Scientists have studied the cemetery area near the meetinghouse. They found unmarked graves of Quakers from the 1760s. It was common for Quakers not to mark graves back then. Some relatives of Susan B. Anthony are buried here. She was a famous leader who fought for women's right to vote, and she was born in Adams.
See Also
