The Friends Meeting House, located on the corner of Rtes. 53 and 139, held their annual open house this past weekend, inviting the public to come in to see the oldest meeting house in Massachusetts and the 3rd oldest in the United States.
In 1676, the Quakers, known as the Society of Friends, originally met in a building in Scituate and moved to the Pembroke location in 1706, when a new building was built by Robert Barker Jr.. The move to Pembroke satisfied the need for a more central location for the towns of Duxbury, Marshfield and Kingston, according to Miles Prescott, member of the Pembroke Historical Society. Barker Jr. also built the Adah Hall House.
The Mormons, because of their interest in genealogy, recorded all the meeting notes for the Quakers from 1676 through the 1880's. Their notes recorded weddings and burials, among other events, and the notebooks still exist today and are available to read. Between 1890 and 1920, membership dwindled and the Society was "defunct", said Prescott. It was then the New Bedford Friends Meeting House took possession of the property. A 1929 deed was recorded showing a transfer from the New Bedford Friends back to the Pembroke Friends Meeting Association.
The building has undergone a number of restoration projects since that time. Between 1831 and 1835, projects included moving the front door (originally facing west), changing the roof from a hip roof to a gable roof, and the addition of the double entry doors you see today. The men's entrance was on the right, and the women's entrance was on the left.
During this time period, there was also the addition of the partition wall between the right and left benches, so that men and women could worship together, but could close the partition windows and hold their business meetings separately.
The flooring has been replaced, the front door was relocated, and a wood stove was also moved.
The current Society of Friends meet in this building Sundays during the summer months, and the rest of the year they use the Bethel Chapel on Washington Street in Pembroke.
If you would like to learn more about the Society of Friends, or Quakers, click here.
