Portsmouth Friends Meetinghouse Parsonage and Cemetery
Portsmouth Friends Meetinghouse Parsonage and Cemetery is a building in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 7, 1973.
Plan your visit
- Access
- Access information not verified
Last checked October 31, 2026 - Location
- Portsmouth, Newport County, Rhode Island
National Register listing does not mean a place is open to the public. Parking and accessibility are shown only when verified.
History
The Portsmouth Friends Meetinghouse, Parsonage, and Cemetery (also known as Portsmouth Friends Meeting House or Portsmouth Evangelical Friends Church) is a historic Friends meeting house and cemetery of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), at 11 Middle Road and 2232 E. Main Road in Portsmouth, Rhode Island.
In 1638, exiled religious dissidents from the Massachusetts Bay Colony founded Portsmouth, the second oldest colonial community in Rhode Island. The Quaker community developed shortly after the community was founded.
The current meetinghouse was built around 1699–1700. The building was used as a Quaker house of worship and school. During the American Revolutionary War, British troops occupied the building. In 1784 the Moses Brown School was founded at the church. The meeting house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
The meetinghouse was listed for sale after the Friends' Church regional headquarters closed the church in 2017 in response to dwindling membership. In 2020, the local congregation regained legal control of the meetinghouse and re-opened it for services after renovations.
Excerpt from the Wikipedia article, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. The official nomination form is linked under Sources.
Other listings in Portsmouth
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- Borden Farm Building · listed 2007
- Farnham Farm Building · listed 2006
- Greenvale Farm Building · listed 1980
- Hog Island Shoal Lighthouse Structure · listed 1988
- Lawton-Almy-Hall Farm Building · listed 1978
- Oak Glen Building · listed 1978
- Pine Hill Archeological Site, RI-655 Site · listed 1983
- Prudence Island Lighthouse Structure · listed 1988
- St. Mary’s Episcopal Church Building · listed 2023
- Union Church Building · listed 1974
Nearby historic places
- Fort Barton Site Tiverton, RI · about 3 mi
- Cook-Bateman Farm Tiverton, RI · about 4 mi
- Tiverton Four Corners Historic District Tiverton, RI · about 4 mi
- Bailey Farm Middletown, RI · about 5 mi
- Bristol Customshouse and Post Office Bristol, RI · about 5 mi
- Friends Meeting House and Cemetery Little Compton, RI · about 5 mi