Apponegansett Meeting House
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The Apponegansett Meeting House or "Apponagansett Meeting House" is a historic
Quaker 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 ...
(Friends)
meeting house A meeting house (meetinghouse, meeting-house) is a building where religious and sometimes public meetings take place. Terminology Nonconformist Protestant denominations distinguish between a * church, which is a body of people who believe in Ch ...
on Russells Mills Road east of Fresh River Valley Road in
Dartmouth, Massachusetts Dartmouth (Massachusett: ) is a coastal town in Bristol County, Massachusetts. Old Dartmouth was the first area of Southeastern Massachusetts to be settled by Europeans, primarily English. Dartmouth is part of New England's farm coast, which co ...
. Built in 1791, it is the oldest Quaker meeting house in southeastern Massachusetts, and one of its best preserved. The property it stands on, which includes a cemetery, has been used by its Quaker congregation since at least 1699. It was added to 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 ...
in 1991.


Description and history

The Apponegansett Meeting House is set on the south side of Russells Mills Road, just east of Fresh River Valley Road. It is a two-story wood frame structure, with a gable roof, wooden shingle siding, and a rubblestone foundation. It is set atop a low rise on about of land, which include a cemetery (located south and west of the building), a 19th-century privy house, and the archaeological remnants of the first meeting house and other outbuildings. The meeting house was built in 1791, on land that has been used by local Quakers since the 17th century. Dartmouth was established by Quakers in 1664, including most of what is now Westport, Acushnet,
New Bedford New Bedford (Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American p ...
, and Fairhaven. Their first meeting house was built on this property (exact location undetermined) in 1699, and the cemetery is the burial ground for many of Dartmouth's early settlers. The first meeting house was repeatedly enlarged, until it was decided to build the present structure in 1791. Despite the decline in local Quaker congregations, the building continues to be maintained by the community, and is used for services in the summer. Several scenes of ''Down to the Sea in Ships'', a 1922 film, were filmed there.


See also

*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Bristol County, Massachusetts List of Registered Historic Places in Bristol County, Massachusetts: __NOTOC__ Cities and towns listed separately Due to their large number of listings, some community listings are in separate articles, listed in this table. Other cities ...


References


External links

* {{Authority control Churches completed in 1791 18th-century Quaker meeting houses Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Quaker meeting houses in Massachusetts Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Churches in Bristol County, Massachusetts Cemeteries in Bristol County, Massachusetts Dartmouth, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Bristol County, Massachusetts 1791 establishments in Massachusetts