{"nrhp_refnum":"76000236","name":"Quaker Meetinghouse","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Maple Street Cemetery","address_restricted":false,"city":"Adams","county":"Berkshire County","state":"MA","lat":42.627237028000025,"lon":-73.12559126399998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-08-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story clapboard Quaker meeting house in the Maple Street Cemetery in the western part of Adams, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, built between 1781 and 1784 according to town records.","why_significant":"It is described as one of the few remaining examples of eighteenth-century Friends meeting house architecture. Its interior is virtually unaltered and well preserved. It is also tied to the early settlement of Adams by Quakers from Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts.","narrative":"Set within the Maple Street Cemetery in Adams, this plain two-story clapboard meeting house was built between 1781 and 1784 by the Quaker families who settled the town, then called East Hoosuc, after 1769. The frame is mostly original oak, while the clapboards have been replaced over time and the slate roof dates from the late 19th or early 20th century. Double front doors allowed men and women to enter separately, and fixed and movable partitions divided the interior so each group could hold its own meetings. Fireplaces on each floor sit on the women's side. The interior has survived with little change after about two centuries. The building is valued as one of the few surviving eighteenth-century Friends meeting houses and as a link to the early history of Adams. The town owns it, and descendants of the Friends gather there each year.","period_of_significance":"1781-1784","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Vernacular Quaker example","criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned and cared for by the Town of Adams; used annually as the meeting place of the Adams Society of Friends Descendants. Interior described as essentially untouched; a concrete foundation replaced the stone one in the 1930s.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.169769-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/22/7943/63794322/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/76000236.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000236/49d1eaa2c9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000236/49d1eaa2c9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Quaker_Meetinghouse,_Adams_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Quaker_Meetinghouse,_Adams_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794322","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaker_Meetinghouse_(Adams,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7268561"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/berkshire-county/quaker-meetinghouse-76000236/"}