Rhode Island’s Oldest Surviving House of Worship
BUILT: 1699
FAREWELL & MARLBOROUGH STREETS, NEWPORT
The Great Friends Meeting House, built in 1699 for Newport’s Quaker congregation, is the oldest surviving house of worship in Rhode Island. When the ship Woodhouse arrived in Newport harbor in 1657, it carried six Quaker passengers who had travelled to escape persecution in England. They brought with them the religion founded by George Fox (1624-1691) in 1647,[1] thus introducing Newport to a religion that would soon become one of the most popular denominations on the island. Fox’s theology was based on a simple and direct form of Christian worship that focused on each person’s “Inner Light,” which allowed one to connect with others and moved people to speak while in Meeting (Quaker worship services). This philosophy allowed for a more liberal denomination that acknowledged “no religious authority save that of the Spirit.”[2]
Because of this, Quakers, formally known as the Society of Friends, were not generally well received in civil matters. Their “self-minded society” appeared threatening to colonial authorities, who cautioned against their “mischief.”[3] Given this, in 1658, Governor Benedict Arnold (1615-1678) was asked by the Commissioners of the United Colonies to expel from Rhode Island any associated with the Quaker congregation. Despite not personally agreeing with Quaker theology, Arnold ultimately refused, replying that “we have no law among us, whereby to punish any for only declaring by words…theire mindes and understandings concerning the things and days of God.”[4] Soon after, the Quakers gained traction in the city and its members rose to social, political, and economic prominence.[5]
Upon its construction in 1699, the meeting house was the largest structure of any kind in the colonies between Boston and New York, and served as host to the New England Yearly Meeting of Friends until 1905.
Newport’s emerging Quaker community initially met at a variety of locations. The first Quaker Meetings were held at prominent members’ homes, namely the family estates of early Newport settlers such as the Coddingtons, Eastons, and Coggeshalls. A smaller Meeting House was later constructed on the grounds of the present-day Great Friends Meeting House[6] While the official date of construction is not known, the original Meeting House was built by 1672 as Governor Nicholas Easton (c. 1593-1675), a Quaker himself, entertained Fox in Newport that year during Fox’s five-day visit for the Yearly Meeting.[7]
The New England Yearly Meeting was held in Newport from c. 1661-1895. All Quakers in the area would travel to the city each year to attend worship services and participate in discussions.[8] During Quaker Meetings, congregants sit in silence until someone is moved by the Inner Light to speak and address the room. The Meeting ends with the shaking of hands between elders.[9]
In 1698, to accommodate the growing number of worshipers attending these Yearly Meetings, Newport’s congregation approved plans for a “large Meeting House” to be built, which was constructed on the site at Farewell and Marlborough streets between 1699-1701.[10] This structure is the centermost and oldest part of the current Great Friends Meeting House. According to a painting entitled View of Newport (c. 1740), the original roof had a cupola that was later removed.[11] The building—called the “Great Meeting” to distinguish it from the aforementioned smaller, original Meeting House—was estimated to fit over 500 people.[12] Following its construction, the Great Friends Meeting House was used as the annual site of the Yearly Meeting until 1895.[13] It consequently became one of the most important sites in the colonies for the Quakers.
Throughout its over-300-year history, the Society of Friends congregation has counted among its membership some of the most politically significant members of Newport society, including nine colonial Governors of Rhode Island.[14] As this Quaker community grew, so did the Meeting House. A smaller addition called the “Little Meeting House” was added in 1705 to accommodate female worshippers; while speculation places it as having been attached to the Great Meeting on the north end, the exact location and layout of the addition is currently unknown.[15] In 1710, the Little Meeting House was used as a school in addition to worship services.[16] It was sold to John Proud in 1729 who presumably moved it to another location to make room for the larger North Meeting addition, built 1729.[17]
The central cubical block of the elongated building, with its massive, exposed framing timbers, tiered bench seating, and diamond pane leaded windows, is a rare surviving example of the late medieval form. Photo by Shannon Hammond.
The North Meeting was used for the Quaker’s growing female congregation. It is a two-story edifice; the bottom floor was used for worship services while the upper was used for smaller, private meetings. The upper floor is known as the “Ship Room” on account of its curved ceiling, like that of a hull of a ship. It maintains its original floorboards, and unexplained holes in the wood could have originally served as notches for bench legs. The addition was attached to the exterior of the Great Meeting, whose original shingles (c. 1699) can still be seen through a cut-out in the North Meeting’s wall.[18] The Meeting House’s only stove and fireplace were installed 65 years later in the Ship Room in 1794.[19] Aside from a balcony being added to the Great Meeting in 1743,[20] no other major architectural changes were made during the eighteenth century.
This may have been due, in part, to outside events. During the American Revolution, Quakers experienced severe criticism for their generally Loyalist-yet-anti-war policies.[21] They abhorred violence and tyranny, putting them in a conflicting position at the start of the Revolution. An Addition to Common Sense, originally published in the Quaker-stronghold of Philadelphia, was reprinted in Quaker-dominated Newport in 1776. It rebuked the congregation for perceived hypocrisy and meddling in civil affairs, boldly addressing them as a political rather than religious body, which was among the initial concerns of colonial authorities. It attested that the Quakers were “dabbling in matters which the professed Quietude of [their] principles instructs [them] not to meddle with,” insisting that “[i]f they would not pull down kings, let them not support tyrants.”[22] It further proclaimed that “the love and desire for peace is not confined to Quakerism,”[23] insinuating the Quakers felt they had a monopoly on these feelings to justify their actions. Seventy-six Newport Quakers declared allegiance to the King in 1777, forcing the congregation to expel members who had patriot sympathies.[24]
This controversy had a tangible effect on the Great Friends Meeting House. The 1777 Yearly Meeting was held in Woonsocket instead of at Great Friends as Newport was occupied by British soldiers.[25] This occupation reportedly cut off communication between Newport Quakers and congregations in other towns.[26] The British and/or Hessian troops likely used Great Friends as a hospital during this time as a diary from Hessian private Johann Conrad Dohla mentions he was treated for scurvy in Newport at a Quaker Meeting House.[27]
When the French army arrived in 1780, it too took over the Meeting House property. The Quaker congregation subsequently elected a delegation of prominent members of their community to petition to have it released back to them. Meeting minutes from October 31, 1780 provide details: “A party of the Meeting House at Newport having for some time past been occupied by the French Army we appoint James Mitchell, James Chase, Isaac Lawton and Jacob Mott to use their endeavors to have it released.”[28] By 1781, the Meeting House was in need of significant repair,[29] which could indicate mis- or overuse during the American Revolution.
The nineteenth century saw significant renovations to the Great Friends Meeting House. In 1802, the building was reported to have been struck by lightning and subsequently repaired.[30] In the years following (1804-1805), the cellar below the building was filled and the property’s stable was moved. The most notable change occurred in 1807 with the addition of the South Meeting. In 1806, the women’s congregation claimed that their existing section of the Meeting House could not house their growing numbers safely, and thus the South Meeting held expanded seating for their use.[31] That same year, the congregation authorized the lowering of the Meeting House’s roof, which may have been when the original cupola was removed.[32]
In 1857, a Greek Revival-style addition was added to the building. This included a two-story entrance added to the west side of the Meeting House with separate entrances for men and women. In 1867, parts of the South Meeting were also altered in the last major renovation to Great Friends while still under Quaker ownership.[33] Minutes from 1869 mention an additional “west meeting room” that no longer stands today.[34]
By the end of the nineteenth century, Newport’s Quaker congregation was declining, and the use of Great Friends followed suit. After 1895, the New England Yearly Meeting was held biannually in Newport until 1905.[35] During this time, Quakers authorized a series of sales of the property surrounding the Great Friends Meeting House. After nearly two decades of parceling out the land, the Great Friends Meeting House itself was eventually sold in 1922.[36]
Starting in 1922, the Newport Community Center took over the property and served as its stewards until 1967.[37] In the years following, the Newport Players Guild used Great Friends as a performing arts space (1937). Activities such as dances, Boy Scout events, and rummage sales were additionally held at the Meeting House.[38] Other reports note the space was used for performing arts groups during the 1920s-1940s and as a recreation center serving Newport’s African American youth.[39] Despite poor physical conditions—for which children named it the “Wreck”[40]—Great Friends appears to have been used successfully as a communal space during this time given the profile of some of the events held in the space. James “Jimmie” Dodd of Mickey Mouse Club fame gave a performance at Great Friends in the late 1950s.[41]
In 1967, Mr. and Mrs. Sydney L. Wright purchased Great Friends from the Newport Community Center Association.[42] That same year, the Wrights enlisted the help of architectural historians Antionette Downing and Orin Bullock, Jr. to decide how to repair the building.[43] At the time, Mr. Wright was President of the Newport Historical Society (NHS); he invested interest in the property after receiving a call from Katherine Warren (then-head of the Preservation Society of Newport County) regarding the need for intervention on the Meeting House’s behalf.[44]
The building’s most significant restoration followed in the 1970s under the direction of Bullock, when the Great Friends Meeting House was in serious disrepair. One of the largest issues Bullock and Downing needed to tackle was the date the building should be restored to. A note from Bullock to Downing regarding the debate detailed a pros and cons list of what would be lost with each date of restoration.[45] Ultimately, it was decided the Meeting House should be restored to its 1807 design, keeping the Great, North, and South Meetings intact. This decision was reached due to the discovery of sliding shuts that had been plastered over in future additions. During this restoration, the late-nineteenth century additions were demolished.[46]
In addition to renovations, an archaeological excavation was conducted on the property (1969-70). It determined that the Great Friends Meeting House was built almost directly on top of an historic Indigenous site. Among items found were 90 shell midden pits, projectile points, knives, and a dog burial that was carbon-dated to circa 1100 C.E. Findings in other areas of the property included pottery discs, pre-nineteenth century artifacts, and the colonial graves of two women.[47]
While several sources list the Wrights as the final owners during this time until the Newport Historical Society gained ownership of the property, a report from 1992 records the Evangelical Friends Church of Newport as intermediate stewards between the Wrights and the NHS.[48] Sometime during this period, the NHS acquired the property, presumably from Mrs. Catharine M. Wright in 1971.[49] They subsequently took a larger role in the restoration of Great Friends.
Bullock stressed the importance of finding a permanent use for the building, otherwise it would risk continuously falling into disrepair.[50] Following the restoration’s completion in 1975, the Great Friends Meeting House was open to the public during the summers. The NHS’s 1975 merger with Oldport Association, Inc. seemed to encourage this course of action. Oldport’s expertise with tour guiding was seen as the solution to the NHS’s need for engaging programming, and it was proposed Oldport become a subsidiary of the NHS. Its focus would be on educational activities and tours of the Great Friends Meeting House and the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House.[51]
This practice continued through the 1980s. A journal of Meeting House tour guides from the summer of 1982 documented the number of customers and the preparation work related to keeping the Meeting House open for visitors.[52] However, by the 1990s, the NHS was faced with the same issue that Bullock stressed during the renovation: finding a permanent use for the building.
In 1992, wide-scale site analyses were conducted at Great Friends Meeting House. These were done as preliminary preparations for a new NHS museum and headquarters building to be built on the site.[53] This project never came to fruition; poor drainage (in part due to the work conducted by Bullock in the 1970s) and a lack of climate control were determined as two significant areas of improvement.[54] The site was then monitored by a committee to note instances of vandalism and broken windows, which has continued to be an issue.[55]
As it stands today, Great Friends and its surrounding property is used for special events, a community garden, weddings, and various other community-building functions.
Rent Great Friends Meeting House for your next event.
Research by Emily DeFazio, 2024 Buchanan-Burnham Summer Scholar in Public History.
[1] Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in New England (Providence: A.C.
Greene, 1856-65), pp. 374-380 as found in Elaine Robinson, “Orin Bullock and the Restoration of the Great Friends Meeting House,” Newport History Vol. 82, Issue 268, Article 2, 1.
[2] Orin Bullock, Jr. et. al., “The Restoration of the Great Friends Meeting House,” 10-14.
[3] CM Wright, “Newport Quakers and Their Great Meeting House,” Newport History No. 156, Vol. 47, Part 4, 201.
[4] Thomas Williams Bicknell, The History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Volume 3, (New York: The American Historical Society, Inc., 1920), 1024.
https://books.google.com/books?id=TF0EAAAAYAAJ&vq=Greene&pg=PA1023#v=onepage&q&f=false
[5] Antoinette F. Downing, “History of the Friends Meeting House in Newport, Rhode Island,” Newport History No. 132, Vol. 41, Part 4.
[6] The Coddington’s hosted the Yearly Meetings at their home until 1689. While institutional files note that the earliest Quaker records cannot be located, it is likely that the original Meeting House was built by 1672 near the Coddington Burial Ground on Farewell St., as recorded at the time of the debate between George Fox and Roger Williams.
(Quaker Meeting Minutes 1672-1750, as found in Vault A, FMH Box35A, “Notes on FMH (2 of 12)”; Wright, “Newport Quakers and Their Great Meeting House.”)
[7] “Rhode Island Quakers in the American Revolution 1775-1790,” (1976), 11 [Redwood Library BX 7663.R4, R46]; Wright, “Newport Quakers and Their Great Meeting House,” 200, 203.
Another source mentions a debate between Fox and Roger Williams took place at the original Meeting House during this period. (WM. G. Hubbard, “The Quakers at Newport,” Advocate of Peace (1847-1884), New Series, Vol. 2, No. 20 (AUGUST 15, 1870), p. 274)
[8] Downing, “History of the Friends Meeting House in Newport, Rhode Island.”
[9] “Quakers,” BBC, 2009. https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/subdivisions/quakers_1.shtml#:~:text=In%20a%20Quaker%20meeting%20for,Children%20are%20specifically%20welcomed.
[10] Quaker Meeting Minutes, 1672-1750 as found in Vault A, FMH B35A, “Notes on FMH (2 of 12).”
[11] Rockwell Stensrud, Newport: A Lively Experiment, (2006) ,102-103.
The small box of library-type cards in Vault A, FMH B35A mentions that the cupola was removed in the late-1800’s and was used as a shop. I am unsure where they got this information, but there is potential it is mentioned in the Meeting Minutes from the 19th century.
[12] Bullock, “The Restoration of the Great Friends Meeting House at Newport, Rhode Island,” 5; Quaker Meeting Minutes, 1672-1750 as found in Vault A, B35A, “Notes on FMH (2 of 12).”
The smaller meeting house on the property was abandoned by 1710.
[13] Downing, “History of the Friends Meeting House.”
[14] Wright, “Newport Quakers and Their Great Meeting House.”
[15] Minutes of the Rhode Island Monthly Meeting, 1676-1875, 12 as found in An Architectural Research Report on The Investigation of The Quaker Meeting House by Orin Bullock, Jr.
[16]Library card box, Vault A, FMH B35A.
[17]Minutes of the Rhode Island Monthly Meeting, 1676-1875, 20 as found in An Architectural Research Report on The Investigation of The Quaker Meeting House by Orin Bullock, Jr.; Downing, “History of the Friends Meeting House in Newport, Rhode Island.”
[18] Bullock, “The Restoration of the Great Friends Meeting House at Newport, Rhode Island,” 6-7.
[19] Ibid.; Downing, “History of the Friends Meeting House in Newport, Rhode Island.”
[20] Orin Bullock, Jr., An Architectural Research Report on The Investigation of The Quaker Meeting House, Vault A, FMH B35A.
[21] “Addition to Common Sense,“ (1776) [Redwood Library Vault E 211 .P1316]
[22] Ibid, 36, 64.
[23] Ibid, 65.
[24] ”Rhode Island Quakers in the American Revolution,“ 15.
[25] ”Rhode Island Quakers in the American Revolution,“ 15.
[26] Ibid.
[27] Johann Conrad Döhla, A Hessian Diary of the American Revolution, Translated by Bruce E. Burgoyne, (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1990), 68.
https://cdn2.imagearchive.com/muzzleloadingforum/data/attach/55/55766-Diary-Doehla.pdf
[28] Quaker Meeting Minutes, 1752-1799 as found in Vault A, FMH Box35A, ”Notes on FMH (3 of 12).”
[29] Ibid.
[30] Quaker Meeting Minutes, 1800-1840 as found in Vault A, FMH B35A, “Notes on FMH (4 of 12).”
[31] Ibid.
[32] Quaker Meeting Minutes, 1841-1922 as found in Vault A, FMH B35A, “Notes on FMH (5 of 12).”
[33] NHS Institutional Files, Seventh Day Basement, Cabinet 13, Properties Drawer, Folder – “FMH 1995-6,“ Subfolder – “GFMH Deed/Easement.”
[34] Quaker Meeting Minutes, 1841-1922 as found in Vault A, FMH B35A, “Notes on FMH (5 of 12).”
[35] Downing, ”History of the Friends Meeting House.”
[36] Quaker Meeting Minutes, 1841-1922 as found in Vault A, FMH B35A, “Notes on FMH (5 of 12).”
There are discrepancies in the price acquired for the property.
[37] Roger Williams College, ”The Great Friends Meeting House Newport, Rhode Island Analysis and Documentation,“ (October 1992).
[38] E.F. Benson, ”Talk given at the Annual Meeting of the Martin Luther King Center, Jan/15,1982,“ as found in Vault A, FMH B35A.
[39] NHS Institutional Files, Seventh Day Basement, Cabinet 13, Properties Drawer, Folder – ”FMH 1995-6,” Subfolder – “Fire System GFMH.”
[40] Benson, ”Talk given at the Annual Meeting of the Martin Luther King Center,” Vault A, FMH B35A.
[41] P9706, Collection of the Newport Historical Society.
[42] NHS Institutional Files, Seventh Day Basement, Cabinet 13, Properties Drawer, Folder – “FMH 1995-6,“ Subfolder – “GFMH Deed/Easement.”
[43] Elaine Robinson, ”Orin Bullock and the Restoration of the Great Friends Meeting House,” Newport History, Vol. 82, No. 268.
[44] Kelsey Mullen, ”Sustainable Stewardship Final Report.”
[45] Vault A, FMH B35A, “Orin Bullock’s Meeting House Restoration Philosophy.”
[46] Robinson, “Orin Bullock and the Restoration of the Great Friends Meeting House.”
[47] Ibid.; Roger Williams College, ”GFMH Analysis and Documentation.“
[48] Roger Williams College, ”GFMH Analysis and Documentation.”
[49] Newport Land Evidence Vol. 232 as found in NHS Institutional Files, Seventh Day Basement, Cabinet 13, Properties Drawer, Folder – “FMH 1995-6,“ Subfolder – “GFMH Deed/Easement.”
[50] Robinson, ”Orin Bullock and the Restoration of the Great Friends Meeting House.”
[51] NHS Institutional Files, Seventh Day Basement, Cabinet 13, Properties Drawer, Folder – “FMH 1995-96,“ Subfolder – “KLR 990 Questions.”
[52] ”Journal,“ Vault A, FMH B35A.
[53] Unnamed Red Binder, Vault A, FMH B35A.
[54] Roger Williams College, ”GFMH Analysis and Documentation.”
[55] NHS Institutional Files, Seventh Day Basement, Cabinet 13, Properties Drawer, Folder – “FMH 1995-6,“ Subfolder – “GFMH Loitering 2012.”