The South China Meeting House, now known as the South China Community Church, is a historic church on Village Street in
South China, Maine
South China is a village in the town of China in Kennebec County, Maine, United States. It is one of five villages in the town. Located between Augusta and Waterville, South China sits along the shores of its namesake, China Lake. It is an ...
. Built in 1884 as a
Quaker
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...
meeting house, it is now home to multi-denominational congregation. It is notable as one of the places that influenced Quaker writer
Rufus Jones, who was raised in South China and attended services here after this building replaced the
Pond Meeting House. It was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1983.
Description and history
The South China Community Church is located in the center of South China village, on the north side of Village Street. It is a rambling single-story structure, whose most prominent feature is a square tower that has a louvered belfry and pyramidal top. To the right of the tower, a low shed-hip-roof section fronts a taller section with a front-facing gable. This tall section is the original sanctuary. To the left of the tower is a short-gable section, which gives way to a longer gabled section with a lower roof. The main entrance is at the base of the tower, sheltered by a gabled hood, with secondary entrances immediately to its left (under a shed-roof extension of the short ell) and at the far end of the long ell.
The church's original sanctuary was built in 1883 by the local Quaker community, as a replacement for the
Pond Meeting House. It was a simple frame structure similar to its predecessor, and was enlarged about 1900 by the addition of the tower and an extension of the sanctuary space. The additions to the left are from a later period. Writer Rufus Jones, who was born and raised in South China, continued to summer here as an adult, and regularly attended
Quaker meetings
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...
here, and was reported to speak at them often.
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See also
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References
External links
South China Community Church web site
{{National Register of Historic Places
Churches in Kennebec County, Maine
Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine
National Register of Historic Places in Kennebec County, Maine
China, Maine
1884 establishments in Maine
Churches completed in 1884