Quaker Meeting House in Adams, Massachusetts, Built in 1785, Opens to Visitors on Summer Sundays

The Quaker Meeting House stands at the western edge of the Maple Street Cemetery in Adams, on a grassy knoll above the unmarked graves of its members. The building is closed for most of the year. From the Fourth of July through Columbus Day, members of the Adams Historical Society and the town’s Historical Commission open it on Sundays, from 1 to 4 p.m.

The meeting house was built by the East Hoosuck Society of Friends and served as a house of worship from its completion in 1785 until the mid-1840s. Before it was built, the Quakers met in members’ homes. Virginia Duval, a member of the historical society’s board of directors, said the group arrived in the late 1760s and worshipped in homes for roughly 10 to 15 years before construction began.

Duval said the members built the two-story structure in the simple style of their homes, using oak and pine. Ax marks are still visible in some of the timber. She said the work was done in their spare time, most likely with materials left over from other projects, a detail that reflects steady, careful labor in ordinary hours (Colossians 3:23).

Duval also described the Quakers of Adams as landowners and business owners with families, in contrast to the Shakers. She said the Friends’ beliefs set them apart from other Christians, noting that they did not drink, dance or smoke. She added that the Quakers believed in greater equality for women and opposed slavery and war. She said one notable fact about the Adams Quakers is that some members set aside their pacifist beliefs and fought in the Battle of Bennington.

Inside, the room is divided into two sections, with men and women seated apart. The space includes partitions that can divide it for separate meetings. On the men’s side, the benches and walls still bear the names of the people who carved the letters into the wood.

Visitors can reach the site from the McKinley monument on Route 8 in Adams by heading northeast on Maple Street. The cemetery is at the top of the hill on the right.

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