Location Lincoln, Rhode Island NRHP Reference # 78000008 Area 1 ha | Built 1704 Opened 1704 Added to NRHP 28 November 1978 | |
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Similar Eleazer Arnold House, Hearthside, Roger Williams Park Zoo, Historic New England | ||
The Saylesville Friends Meetinghouse is an historic Quaker meetinghouse on Smithfield Avenue within the village of Saylesville in the town of Lincoln, Rhode Island.
The Quaker (Society of Friends) meetinghouse was built in 1703-04, consisting of a modest, nearly rectangular wood frame structure. An expansion to the building was added c. 1745, joining a larger two-story structure to the old one.
Moses Brown, credited with funding Slater Mill, often described as the start of the American Industrial Revolution, was a member either of Providence Friends Meeting, Saylesville Friends Meeting or Smithfield Friends Meeting—sources are unclear. Providence Meeting is most likely because of its proximity to Moses Brown's farm.
Stephen Hopkins, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was married in this meetinghouse. Elizabeth Buffum Chace, prominent Quaker abolitionist, lived in nearby Central Falls.
It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. It is one of the oldest surviving Quaker meeting houses in New England. It continues to be used each First Day as a Friends Meetinghouse, in the unprogrammed tradition of Friends' worship.