Nomination for Long Plain Friends Meetinghouse

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

NPS Form 10-900 (3-82) OMBNo. 1024-0018 Expires 10-31-87 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form See instructions in How to Complete National Register Forms Type all entries - complete applicable sections 1. Name For NPS use only received MAY 27 1986 date entered 6-26-86 historic LONG PLAIN FRIENDS MEETINGHOUSE and or common LONG PLAIN QUAKER CHURCH 2. Location street & number 1341 North Main Street (Mass. Route 105 North) N/Anot for publication city, town Acushnet N/Avicinity of state Massachusetts 3.

Classification Category Ownership _ district X public * building(s) - private _ structure both site Public Acquisition object N/Ain process being considered code 025 county Bristol code 005 Status occupied * unoccupied * work in progress Accessible X yes: restricted yes: unrestricted no Present Use - agriculture - commercial . educational _ entertainment - government - industrial - military museum park - private residence -religious - scientific transportation _X other: vacant 4. Owner of Property name Acushnet Historical Conmission street & number Town Hall, Main Street city, town Acushnet N/ Avicinity of 5. Location of Legal Description state Mass. 02743 courthouse, registry of deeds, etc. Bristol County Registry of Deeds street & number 1l Court Street city, town Taunton state Mass. 6.

Representation in Existing Surveys title Inventory of the Historic Assets of the Conmonwealth, #12 has this property been determined eligible? - yes date January 1975 federal X state county local depository for survey records Massachusetts Historical Conmission city, town Boston state Mass. 7. Description Long Plain Friends Meeting House, Acushnet, Massachusetts Condition Check one deteriorated X altered Check one X original site moved date unexposed Describe the present and original (if known) physical appearance

Description of the property

The Long Plain Friends Meetinghouse, erected ca. 1759 with a porch addition, ca. 1859, is a two story wood frame and clapboard structure with an end gable roof of medium pitch, end chimneys and regular fenestration pattern on two facades measuring 40.5 feet east to west and 28.5 feet north to south. The meetinghouse lies about one hundred feet west of the former Long Plain Road (now Main Street/Mass. Route 105 North) in Acushnet, although the edge of the lot directly abuts this road. The surrounding area is characterized by semi-rural agricultural, residential and light commercial activity, with the majority of the building stock dating from the 19th and 20th centuries.

The meetinghouse is situated facing south on approximately two and a half acres of open land and is positioned near the center of the northern edge of the property; the 1and slopes gently away from the building to the south, east, and west. The lot contains several shade trees and is mostly covered tall grass; it is entirely surrounded by a 3- to 4-foot-tall rubble stone wall, which may date back to the original construction of the building. The northeast corner of this wall rises to roughly six feet in height, indicating the former location of a carriage house or stables incorporated into it. a structure normally accompanied a Quaker meetinghouse; this one seeins to have disappeared sometime in the 20th century, for it is just visible in a 1907 photograph of the meetinghouse contained in Franklyn Howland's history of Acushnet.

Just south of the carriage house site is a ten foot cut in the eastern wall, permitting access to the property. The lot also contains a smnall one-story wood shingled privy/shed, which lies just to the west of the meetinghouse along the northern boundary wall and was probably constructed around the middle of the nineteenth century. Occupying the west-northwest corner of the lot is a small cemetery; most of the graves date from the late 18th and early 19th century, but some are earlier and may in fact predate the meetinghouse itself. Although they are unmarked, graves of the Pierce family, the original owners of the property, are reputedto be here, as aremarked graves of the Hammond family, from whom the Quakers purchased this piece of land in 1811.

The Quakers used this for several decades before actually acquiring the property from Alden Hammond in 1811, and the original Quaker owners of the meetinghouse are buried here, among other members of the Long Plain Weekly Meeting. Only a few dozen of the graves are marked, yet Howland's town history reports that when the cemetery was graded and seeded to grass around 1900, there was evidence of over two hundred graves here. It was very common for a Quaker meetinghouse to be accompanied by a burial ground.

Continued NPS Form 10-900-a (3-82) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form Long Plain Friends Meeting House Continuation sheet Acushnet, Massachusetts Item number 7 OMB No.1024-0018 Expires 10-31-87 For NPS uno only recaived date entered Page 1 for men, one for women, as was customary--which gave directly into the interior. These entrances formed the second and third of four bays on the The fenestration pattern of 6/6 windows of the south facade was semi-regular: the spacing between the first (window) bay and the second (door) bay was equivalent to that between the third (door) and fourth (window) bays, while the spacing between the second and third bays (e.g., between the doors) was roughly double that measurement. On the second floor, south facade, only the first and fourth (window) bays are repeated.

Around the time of the building's centennial (i.e. the mid-19th century), a one-story enclosed porch was added to the center of the south facade. Measuring 22 feet 8 inches east to west and 9 feet north to south, this porch forms a vestibule entrance to the main building. Displaying a hipped roof on its three exposed sides, the porch contains two doors in positions that echo the placement of the original entrances, which now serve as access from the vestibule to the main interior, and adds a fifth window bay (between the doors) to the fenestration of the south facade's first floor. The second floor of the south facade remains unchanged, and these two windows are into the cornice above.

The east and west facades retain their original fenestration pattern of two bays of regularly spaced 6/6 windows on each floor, while the windows retain wooden slatted shutters, of indeterminate age (but probably 19th century), painted green (the building and addition are painted white). On the first floor, the interior space is composed of one rectangular room, providing the central preaching space. A sinal1 (30 inches wide) dogleg staircase, enclosed at its upper level and featuring a plain newel post and rail (with no balusters), occupies the southeast corner of the building and leads to the second floor. A raised platform, measuring roughly 5 feet wide by 1 feet long by 8 inches tall, sits at the center of the north or rear wall of the first floor, facing the main seating area; this would have been used as a minister's gallery and seating for the elders of the Meeting.

largely intact today, with the exception of the disappearance of a wooden partition that once divided the interior space of both floors; running in a north-south direction, this vertical screen would have been raised and 1owered by means of a winch apparatus, evidence of which can be seen in the attic. After a period of joint silent worship, the partition would have been lowered to separate the women's meeing from the men's while the business of Quaker society was attended to. The second floor plan was originally defined by a 10-foot-wide balcony jutting into the interior from the east, south, and west walls, creating a U-shaped seating area commonly referred to as a gallery.

Such arrangements are typical Continued NPS Form 10-900-a (3-82) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form Long Plain Friends Meeting House Continuation sheet Acushnet, Massachusetts Item number 7 OMB NO. 1024-0018 Expires 10-31-87 For NPS usa onhy received date entered Page 2 of Quaker meetinghouses of both the 18th and 19th centuries; the gallery may have been used to provide extra space for occasional, larger gatherings, when the children would have been sent upstairs in the care of an elder.

original plan was altered around the turn of the 20th century: a wooden platform measuring 22 feet long by 18 feet wide by 8 inches tall was erected over the balcony opening, thus extending the floor to the full dimensions of the room and creating a recessed area of corresponding measurement in the first floor ceiling. The membership of the Long Plain Meeting had grown smal1 enough that the second floor was no longer needed for worship by the early 20th century- Until the Long Plain Meeting finally disbanded in the 1970s, the second floor was used as a dining area during weekly meetings. tenth post). century, but beneath this are visible beveled chamfers and simple tapered stops on at least on edge of each post; those toward the center of the room have chamfering on both exposed edges.

It is unclear why the Quakers, so averse to decoration at the time, would have chosen to embellish these original framing members. Furthermore, the central post on the north wall has been carved, starting about 10 inches above the floor (directly below the chamfer stops), in a sharp downward curve from its inner edge (facing the room) to its outer edge (abutting the wall at the floor). No explanation for this was immediately apparent. The Long Plain Meetinghouse has no basement. It rests on a foundation of rubble stone and mortar, which is in need of repair. The attic, which is accessible through a hatch in the second floor ceiling near the west chimney, reveals that the roof is composed of twelve common rafters running north to south, some of which retain the carved numbers and pegged joints indicative of construction methods used well into the eighteenth century.

The rafters are overlaid with wide horizontal wood boards, over which rest one layer of wood shingles and two layers of 20th century composition shingles; the porch is roofed in a similar material. It is likely that the original roof covering was wood shingle, but unlikely that those currently in place are the original material. The building has been altered three times. Some time after the original construction, but before the porch was added (i.e. 1759-1859), the two end chinneys were inserted into the frame; empty mortises in the end rafters, visible in the attic, indicate the former presence of collar or tie beams to stabilize the roof structure.

(End chimneys are a common feature of Georgian architecture but not of the northern colonies; it is clear, however, from the smal1 dimensions [18 by 22 inches] of the stacks and the lack of evidence of Continued NPS Form 10-900-a (3-82) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form Long Plain Friends Meetiinghouse, Continuation sheet Acushnet, Massachusetts 7 Item number OMB No.

1024-0018 Expires 10-31-87 ar NPS uea only recEIVed date entered Page 3 fireplaces that these chimneys were solely intended to be used with meetinghouse may have remained unheated year round, despite its use on weekly basis; such austerity would not be considered uncharacteristic of the Quakers.) The second alteration (1859) included: the porch addition; replacement of portions of the original siding (both mill saw and circular saw marks are double-hung sash common to the period, topped with plain box lintels; and replacement of doors with four-panelled (two long over two short) ones with simple moldings. The surviving windows and doors, which date from this renovation, display features faintly reminiscent of the prevalent Greek Revival style of the time, yet subdued enough to remain in keeping with the Quaker philosophy of architecture. The third alteration (ca.

1900) affected the building's interior: the second floor was boxed in, woodwork was painted, wallpaper and pine wainscotting applied to both first and second floors, and new pews and other furniture were purchased. Al though somewhat deteriorated, the building remains today much as it was in the early 20th century, with the exception of electrical wiring added in the mid-20th century. Archaeology While no prehistoric sites have been recorded on, or in close proximity to, there is a potential for sites to be present. Any surviving sites would be significant, since the patterns of prehistoric occupation in Acushnet are poorly documented.

There is also significant historical archaeological potential on the property- Controlled testing can help to verify the sequence of building construction and alteration, as well as the location and configuration of the carriage shed, privies, and It is likely that some occupation-related features survive. Controlled recovery and analysis of such features would assist in documenting the social and cultural patterns associated with Quakers, and how these may have changed, or remained consistent, over the two centuries during which it was used.

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

Significance Long Plain Friends Meeting House, Acushnet, Massachusetts Period - prehistoric 1400-1499 1500-1599 1600-1699 X 1700-1799 X_ 1800-1899 X 1900- Areas of Significance - Check and justify below --. archeology-prehistoric archeology-historic X_ community planning - landscape architecture.. X. religion conservation . science - agriculture X architecture economics _ literature sculpture education ._ arl engineering military social/ - music humanitarian commerce exploration/settlement - philosophy communications industry theater invention -.politics/government transportation other (specify) Specific dates ca. 1759 -- ca. 1900 Builder

Statement of significance

/Architect Unknown Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) The Long Plain Friends Meetinghouse possesses integrity of location, setting, lesign, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. All alterations to including the interior, have been in keeping with its original and continued function. The meetinghouse retains important associations with the history of the Quaker community in Acushnet and the development of the town itself as a farming community. As a nearly intact representative of 18th and 19th century Quaker architectural form and function,and the oldest surviving example of its type in the area, the Long Plain Friends Meetinghouse meets Criteria A and C of the National Register of Historic Places on the state and The Quakers were the second religious group to establish themselves in Acushnet in the late 17th century.

The first Quaker meetinghouse in erected near the head of the Acushnet River in 1700. Much of the early 18th century development of the town as a rural farm community is directly attributable to Quaker settlement there. Quakers remained active in local agricultural enterprises [especially apple and peach orchards, for which Acushnet was and is still reknowned] and mill industries throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, despite their steadily dwindling numbers;mnany prominent Friends, especially those Quakers involved in the whaling industry operating New Bedford, left the Quaker community for the Unitarian Church in the early 19th century when their increasing financial prosperity became incompatible with Quaker doctrine.

In the middle of the 18th century, the Quaker population in the area had grown so numerous that it became feasible to establish Weekly Meetings in various locations, under the direction of the local Monthly Meetings in Dartnouth or Sandwich. The Quakers in the Long Plain area petitioned the Sandwich Monthly Meeting in 1758 for permission to build a meetinghouse for their village.

In 1759, a group of Quaker elders, including Jeremiah Shearman, David Wing, Nicholas Davis, Nehemiah Shearman, and Russell Bradley purchased from Nathan Davis 96 rods of land in Acushnet, "whereon the meetina house is now buildina for the people commonly called Quakers to meet in." (The Long Plain Quakers remained in the Sandwich Monthly Meeting until 1795, when they transferred to the Dartmouth Monthly Meeting; they remained with the latter until the disbanding of the Long Plain Friends Society at the death of its last member in the 1970s.) Nathan and Nicholas Davis were members of a prominent local family, whose descendants continued to hold positions of distinction in the governance of the Long Plain Society of Friends well into the 20th century; one of these descendants, Ruth Davis, was reknowned as an unusually gifted speaker and minister in the late 19th century.

Many members of the Davis family are buried in the cemetery plot adjacent to the meetinghouse. Continued 9.

The rest of the file

Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.

Major Bibliographical References See Continuation Sheet 10. Geographical Data Acreage of nominated property approx. 2.57 acres Quadrangle name New Bedford North UTM References ^[119| [3|411|81610| Zone Easting 1416|213|21610 Northing LLL Quadrangle scale 1:25,000 LILL Easting E D F LLILL Northing LLILLL GLUJLL duuJ LuLLLI Verbal boundary description and justification HLIJ LuLyuiiLu See attached assessor's map. List all states and counties for properties overlapping state or county boundaries state N/A code county N/A code state N/A code 11. Form Prepared By county N/A code Rathy f Cadanatigh Preservation Planner, Massachusetts Historical Conmission with organization Massachusetts Historical Commission date March 1986 street & number 80 Boylston Street telephone (617) 727-8470 city or town Boston state Massachusetts 12.

State Historic Preservation Officer Certification The evaluated significance of this property within the state is: national X - State X local As the designated State Historic Preservation Officer for the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89- 665), I hereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the criteria and procedures set forth by the National Park Service.

State Historic Preservation Officer signature Valeue A ldemage Executive Director title State Historic Preservation Officer date May 19,1996 For NPS use only I hereby certity that this property is included in the National Register veloress Inteced in tile National Rogisten date 6-26-86 date Attest: Chief of Registration GPO 911-399 NPS Form 10-900-a (3-82) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form Long Plain Friends Meeting House Continuation sheet Acushnet, Massachusetts Item number 8 OMB No. 1024-0018 Expires 10-31-87 aR NPS UEE IOO date entered Page 1 The meetinghouse at Long Plain was the third such structure erected in Acushnet and served the local Friends' religious, social, and administrative needs until its closing in the 1970s.

Today it is the oldest of only three meetinghouses in the 01d Dartmouth region, one in New Bedford and one Mills in Dartmouth, in addition to the one at Long Plain. The Long Plain Friends Meetinghouse is an excellent example of Quaker modification of 18th and 19th century vernacular designs to suit their own requirements. In scale, proportions, and materials, the main building closely resembles a Georgian vernacular dwelling. Yet it exhibits none of the detailed decoration associated with the Georgian style, because the Quakers believed that the simplicity of their lifestyle and religious practice should be reflected in their architecture.

The setting of the meetinghouse back from and facing away froin the road, on a substantial plot of land, accompanied only by a few trees, the necessary outbuildings, and a burial ground, is typical of the genre and contributes to the sense of peace and solitude sought by the Quakers for their meetinghouses.

The austerity of construction, reflected in the building's modest proportions, clean lines, traditional construction methods, and almost complete lack of exterior ornamentation, is characteristic the Quaker philosophy and the building's multi-functional purpose: meetinghouses were naturally used for preaching and for periods of nearly silent worship, but also as gathering places for the Quaker community to discuss members' conduct of their daily lives, to censure inappropriate behavior, to settle disputes, to grant permission for marriages, to debate contemporary political issues, and so on. Interior features such as the ninisters' gallery, the second-floor balcony/gallery, the separate entrances for men and women, and the added vestibule are all common meetinghouse of the period. The building has been vacant for nearly a decade.

Recently purchased by the Acushnet Historical Commission from members of the Mattapoisett Monthly Meeting in New Bedford, into whose hands ownership of the Long Plain Meetinghouse had descended, the building is in need of structural repairs to the roof timbers, second floor, and first-floor ceiling (water damage caused by a leak in the roof), and to the sills, lower first floor walls, and foundation (damage caused by rising damp, poor drainage, decay of materials, and animal nesting in the interior walls). Cosmetic repairs, including new coats of paint and cleaning of wal1paper inside, and new paint on the exterior are also expected. Upon completion of renovations, Commission meetings, as well as to open the building to the public as an historic meetinghouse museum, thus preserving the building while retaining one of its original uses.

NPS Form 10-900-a (3-82) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form Long Plain Friends Meeting House Continuation sheet Acushnet, Massachusetts Item number 9 OMB No. 1024-0018 Expires 10-31-87 For NPS uee only received date entered Page 1 MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES Bristol County Registry of Deeds, Taunton, Mass. Book 58, pg. 226 (deed of 1759); Book 92, pg. 198 (deed of 1811 adding cemetery plot). Howland, Franklyn, History of the Town of Acushnet. Acushnet, Mass., 1907. Hutt, Frank W., ed., A History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, vol 2. New York/Chicago, 1924. Lidbetter, H., "Quaker Meetinghouses, 1670-1850," in The Architectural Review, vo1.99, April 1946. Lloyd, Arnold, Quaker Social History, 1669-1738. London, 1950.

Minutes of Sandwich (Mass.) Quarterly Meeting of the Society of Friends, 18th Noveinber 1758. (Property Rhode Island Historical Society, Providence.) Long Plain Friends Meetinghouse, ca. 1759 38 Ac. 374 ÁCRES 1341 North Main Street Acushnet, Massachusetts Assessor's Map: Plot 4, Lot 42 526 ACRES .315 2.389 AC -46753 203 -BUAKE -LÁÑE 40A 150 24,829 61140 495 480 4IA 1AC.

27,480 480 362 286 77 42 2 53ACRES 406 329 345 472 43 284 ACRES 365 45 72 44A 33,225 165 143 44 32,500 220 120 45A IACR.- 5,662 400 628 125 NORTH 150 MA 363 290 150 250.35 186.18 45 21 ACRES - 35,720 twe copy, Bteatiene Toose Clerk 53,30 ATE HIGHWAY ROUTÉ 105) STREET WASO Form - 177 ("'R" June 1984) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET 8600(374 Long Plain Friends Meetinghouse Bristol County MASSACHUSETTS resubmission nomination by person or local government owner objection appeal Substantive Review: Lsample Reviewer's comments: _Jrequest Working No. 5/27/86 Fed. Reg.

Date: Date Due: - 6/21/1213/91./186 Favered 1n Astjon: ACCEPT 6-26-86 Mationel Rogisten - _RETURN- REJECT Federal Agency: -appeal -NR decision Recom./Criteria Reviewer Discipline Date _ see continuation sheet Nomination returned for: _technical corrections cited below substantive reasons discussed below 1. Name 2. Location 3. Classification Category Ownership Public Acquisition 4. Owner of Property 5. Location of Legal Description 6. Representation in Existing Surveys Has this property been determined eligible? yes no 7. Description Condition excellent good fair deteriorated ruins unexposed Check one - unaltered altered Describe the present and original (if known) physical appearance summary paragraph completeness clarity alterations/integrity dates boundary selection Status Accessible Present Use Check one -original site J moved date 8.

Significance Period Areas of Significance-Check and justify below Specific dates Builder/Architect Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) summary paragraph completeness clarity applicable criteria justification of areas checked relating significance to the resource context relationship of integrity to significance J justification of exception other 9. Major Bibliographical References 10. Geographical Data Acreage of nominated property Quadrangle name UTM References Verbal boundary description and justification 11. Form Prepared By 12. State Historic Preservation Officer Certification The evaluated significance of this property within the state is: national state local State Historic Preservation Officer signature date title 13.

Other Maps J Photographs Other Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to _ Signed - Date - Phone: _ GPO 918-450 Comments for any item may be continued on an attached sheet Long Plain Friends Meetinghouse, ca. 1759 1341 North Main Street Acushnet, Massachusetts K. Cavanaugh, 11/24/85 Negative at Acushnet Historical Commission Photo #1 of 6 South (Main) and East Facades from southeast corner of property Long Plain Friends Meetinghouse, ca. 1759 1341 North Main Street Acushnet, Massachusetts K. Cavanaugh, 11/24/85 Neg. at Acushnet Hist. Comm. Photo #2 of 6 South Facade Long Plain Friends Meetinghouse, ca. 1759 1341 North Main Street Acushnet, Massachusetts K. Cavanaugh, 11/24/85 Neg. at Acushnet Historical Commission Photo #3 of 6 South (Main) and East Facades Long Plain Friends Meetinghouse, ca. 1759 1341 North Main Street Acushnet, Massachusetts K. Cavanaugh, 11/24/85 Neg.

at Acushnet Historical Commission Photo #4 of 6 North Facade Long Plain Friends Meetinghouse, ca. 1759 1341 North Main Street Acushnet, Massachusetts K. Cavanaugh, 11/24/85 Neg. at Acushnet Historical Commission Photo #5 of 6 West Facade Long Plain Friends Meetinghouse, ca. 1759 1341 North Main Street Acushnet, Massachusetts K. Cavanaugh Neg. at Acushnet Historical Commission Photo #6 of 6 Privy Shed to west of Meetinghouse 8093546536 The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Office of the Secretary of State Michael Joseph Connolly, Secretary Massachusetts Historical Commission Valerie A. Talmage Executive Director State Historic Preservation Officer April 24, 1986 RECEIVED MAY 12 1986 MASS. HIST, COMM. Carol Shull National Register of Historic Places Department of Interior, National Park Service P.O. Box 37127 Washington, DC 20013-7127 Dear Ms.

Shull: Enclosed you will find the following nomination forms: Acushnet, LONG PLAIN FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE, 1342 North Main Street. Wareham, TOBEY HOMESTEAD, Main Street and Sandwich Road. Weymouth, WASHINGTON 0677-85-MA-85-0690/10196 MA. SCHOOL, 8 School Street HPCA # All have been voted eligible by the State Review Board and have been signed by the State Historic Preservation Officer. Owners were notified of pending State Review Board consideration 30-75 days before the meeting and were afforded the opportunity to com ment. Comments received to date are attached to the nomination forms. Sincerely, sally Bmmermen Director, Preservation Planning Massachusetts Historical Com mission SZ/ls 80 Boylston Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116 (617) 727-8470 MAY 7 1986