The history of The Religious Society of Friends in Rhode Island began during the summer of 1657, when the ship Woodhouse arrived in Newport, to the considerable alarm of the local authorities. While the Quakers (originally an insulting term for Friends) were not welcomed in Rhode Island, they did not face the arrests, imprisonment, whippings, and hangings that occurred in neighboring Massachusetts. Over the next few years Friends slowly established themselves and by 1672 there were sufficient ... view more »
The history of The Religious Society of Friends in Rhode Island began during the summer of 1657, when the ship Woodhouse arrived in Newport, to the considerable alarm of the local authorities. While the Quakers (originally an insulting term for Friends) were not welcomed in Rhode Island, they did not face the arrests, imprisonment, whippings, and hangings that occurred in neighboring Massachusetts. Over the next few years Friends slowly established themselves and by 1672 there were sufficient Friends in the area to warrant a visit by George Fox, a founder of Quakerism, and the establishment of New England Yearly Meeting.
By 1699 Friends Meetings were established in Newport, Narragansett, and East Greenwich, and subsidiary Meetings began to spread up the Bay. In 1718 Providence Monthly Meeting was established as a Meeting in its own right, and soon a meeting house was erected on what is now Meeting Street in Providence. The meeting house burned in 1758, and a new meeting house was built on North Main Street. In 1953 the Meeting moved to its current location adjacent to Moses Brown School.
Friends prospered in colonial Rhode Island and came to be influential in commercial and governing circles. The preponderance of Friends in the legislature markedly slowed Rhode Island’s participation in the Revolutionary War. Friends, many of whom were merchants, suffered greatly during the war, since many felt they could not, as part of their testimony of nonviolence, participate in the war and were therefore heavily penalized. Families were split by conflicting loyalties and convictions and some members left or were read out of Meetings. Over the next century Friends underwent a number of theological and doctrinal controversies and splits. While these are still to some extent present, Friends worldwide are now generally a cohesive group.
The current Meeting House was built in 1953 to replace the older Meeting House on North Main St., which replaced even older Meeting Houses. It is on the corner of Olney St. & Morris Ave., adjacent to Moses Brown School.
It sits on a quiet shady lot surrounded by planting, many of which are products of the hard work of the Firstday school. The grassy lot behind the Meeting house is a favorite of the Firstday school in good weather.
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