Smithfield Friends Meeting House, Parsonage and Cemetery

(Redirected from Smithfield Friends Meeting House, Parsonage & Cemetery) Historic church in Rhode Island, United States United States historic place


Smithfield Friends Meeting House, Parsonage and Cemetery
U.S. National Register of Historic Places

Smithfield Friends Meeting House, Parsonage and Cemetery
Show map of Rhode IslandShow map of the United States
Location	Woonsocket, Rhode Island
Coordinates	41°59′21″N 71°31′49″W / 41.98917°N 71.53028°W / 41.98917; -71.53028
Area	2.5 acres (1.0 ha)
Built	1881
Architect	Fountain, John B.
Architectural style	Greek Revival
MPS	Woonsocket MRA
NRHP reference No.	82000008
Added to NRHP	November 24, 1982

The Smithfield Friends Meeting House, Parsonage and Cemetery, is a Friends Meeting House of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), rebuilt in 1881. It is located at 108 Smithfield Road (Route 146A) in Woonsocket, Rhode Island (across the street from North Smithfield). The meetinghouse is home to one of the oldest Quaker communities in the region.

Rhode Island provided a home to many Quaker refugees in the 17th century, and in the early 18th century a group of "Friends" started this congregation. Their original Meeting House, built in 1719, was connected to a chain of Quaker Meeting Houses that were built along Great Road (near Union Village and Smithfield Road Historic District). It was destroyed by fire in 1881 and replaced by the current structure, a simple wood-frame clapboarded structure with Greek Revival features.

The forested area directly to the north of the meeting house is a natural cemetery. Roughly 300 Friends from the 18th and 19th centuries are buried in this land, although only 100 Friends requested a gravestone or marker. The area is not pesticided or mowed. A natural canopy of trees is allowed to grow over the cemetery. Quaker customs frowned on the use and erection of large gravestones or monuments. They also were "advised to avoid all extravagant expenses" with regard to the passing of a loved one. If the family simply had to have a gravestone, a simple one, no more than 15 inches in height above the ground, was allowed. The name, age and date of death of the deceased were all that were to be inscribed upon the stone.

In the early 19th century, Smithfield meeting struggled with the issue of abolition of slavery. Some Friends, notably Abby Kelley, may have been actively involved with the smuggling of slaves from Southern ports by ship to Providence, then through northern Rhode Island to Worcester, Massachusetts, and on to Canada. Other, quietist Friends believed in not breaking an earthly government's law.

Smithfield Friends Meeting became a Guerneyite (pastoral) meeting during New England's schism in the early 19th century. The New England schism ended in 1945. Smithfield continues to be a pastoral meeting, although the practice has become less common among New England Friends.

References

"National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
"MRA nomination for Woonsocket (PDF pages 115-117)" (PDF). Rhode Island Preservation. Retrieved 2014-08-05.
Doctrines, Christian Advices , and Rules of Discipline of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends.1889

Nebiker, Walter (1976). "the History of North Smithfield". Somersworth, NH: New England History Press.
Quakerfinder.org supplies directions to the meetinghouse and meeting times
Woonsocket National Register sites

External links

Friends Cemetery, a.k.a. Rhode Island Hist Cemetery North Smithfield #6, Rhode Island Historical Cemetery Woonsocket #11 at Find a Grave

v t e U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Topics	Architectural style categories Contributing property Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places Keeper of the Register National Park Service Property types
Lists by state	List of U.S. National Historic Landmarks by state: Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming
Lists by insular areas	American Samoa Guam Minor Outlying Islands Northern Mariana Islands Puerto Rico Virgin Islands
Lists by associated state	Federated States of Micronesia Marshall Islands Palau
Other areas	District of Columbia American Legation, Morocco
Related	National Historic Preservation Act Historic Preservation Fund List of jails and prisons on the National Register of Historic Places University and college buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places portal Category

Categories:

Misplaced Pages