The Oblong Meeting
House
According to tradition, the first settler on Quaker Hill was Nathan Birdsall, a surveyor, who moved here with his family in 1728. Birdsall was a Quaker and it was not long before others of his faith were to follow. By 1742 the population has grown sufficiently to warrant construction of a meeting house, which was located just south of the present site. In 1764 this early structure was replaced by the current larger building.
It was at the Oblong Meeting House in 1767, nearly 100 years before President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, that the first effective action for the abolition of slavery in the colonies was taken.
This same meeting house witnessed a different scene during the winter of 1778-79 when the building was commandeered by General Washington's officers for use as a military hospital. Although no military action occurred during that period, accidents and disease took their toll. Several Revolutionary soldiers are buried across the road near the site of the original meeting house.
In 1828 the Quaker community split into the conservative
Orthodox and progressive Hicksite Societies of Friends. The more numerous
Hicksites retained the Meeting House property, while the Orthodox group withdrew
to erect their own meeting house in 1831, just 200 feet to the northwest (now a
private residence). As the 19th Century progressed, membership
declined and in 1885 the meetings were "laid down". In 1936 the
property was acquired by the Historical Society.
The Oblong Meeting House has remained virtually unchanged for the past two centuries. Inside, the partitions that were raised for worship and lowered to separate the sexes during business activities can still be seen. Take a few moments to linger in this peaceful, contemplative setting that whispers of the early Quaker life.
The Oblong Meeting House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
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