Symmetry at Nine Partners 1780 Quaker Meetinghouse, a Hudson Valley first

MILLBROOK — The plain but imposing red brick Nine Partners Quaker Meetinghouse was the subject of a detailed exposition by a noted architectural historian during a talk sponsored by the Millbrook Historical Society on Sunday, July 27, the second of two such sponsored talks this summer.

The presentation drew an audience of 70 to hear ecclesiastical architecture expert Carl Lounsbury, professor of history at The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, who also serves on the board of Colonial Williamsburg. The College of William and Mary is the second oldest college in the U.S., predated only by Harvard University.

The Nine Partners meetinghouse was completed in 1781 at a total cost of a bit more than 800 pounds. As it stands today, it is well maintained but largely unchanged, serving as one of the earliest examples of interior and exterior symmetry in a Quaker meetinghouse in the Huson Valley.

During welcoming remarks, Millbrook Historical Society President Robert McHugh noted that the summer series of two meeting house talks and open houses has been supported by a grant from Dutchess County.

The principal focus of Lounsbury’s talk was the plan for any standard Quaker meetinghouse building and how the plan reflects changes in Quaker philosophy as the structures evolved over time. The earliest examples of Quaker meetinghouses of the 1600s and 1700s are preserved in England as the Quakers distanced themselves from the Church of England. Quaker migration to the New World brought early colonial Quaker structures in the early U.S. colonies of Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, New Jersey and Rhode Island.

Separation of men and women for worship and business meetings was universal in every meetinghouse. Men participated in the business meetings. In time, women began to hold business meetings, but at first, they were little more than gatherings, with no business conducted, Lounsbury explained. Women’s business meetings were infrequent and brief, and not always at the meetinghouse.

Future generations saw an expanded role of women who engaged in more substantive business meetings and took a leadership role in the women’s suffrage and antislavery movements of the 1800s.

Audience questions followed the talk, including inquiry into meetinghouse locations. Lounsbury said that Quakers were active in areas where the Church of England was not strong. Also, disaffected Puritans might turn to Quakerism.

For those who want to take a closer look at the interior of the Nine Partners Meeting House, McHugh announced that the historic site will be open through the summer until November on the first Sunday of each month, from noon to 4 p.m. Docent-led tours are also scheduled for the same days and hours at four other Dutchess County Quaker meetinghouses. For more details, go to www.meetinghousetour.com.