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Swansea Friends Meeting House and Cemetery

1702 establishments in the Province of Massachusetts BayBristol County, Massachusetts Registered Historic Place stubsCemeteries established in the 18th centuryCemeteries in Bristol County, MassachusettsNational Register of Historic Places in Bristol County, Massachusetts
Quaker meeting houses in MassachusettsReligious buildings and structures completed in 1702Somerset, Massachusetts
SomersetMA FriendsCemetery
SomersetMA FriendsCemetery

The Swansea Friends Meeting House and Cemetery, at 223 Prospect Street in Somerset, Massachusetts, are a pair of religious properties believed to include the oldest extant Quaker meetinghouse in the state, with the oldest surviving meetinghouse form in which the pulpit and entrance face each other across the building's short dimension (instead of the 19th century form, where they stand at opposite ends of the long dimension). The oldest portion of the building dates to 1702, when Somerset was part of Swansea. Originally only 24 feet (7.3 m) wide, the building was significantly enlarged in 1746, adding side bays and a second floor gallery. In the 19th century the balconies were closed off to provide office space. The cemetery adjacent to the meetinghouse is also believed to be of great age; its oldest dated marker is 1831, but 18th century Quaker practice did not generally include the laying of markers, so there are likely a number of unmarked early graves.The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Swansea Friends Meeting House and Cemetery (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Swansea Friends Meeting House and Cemetery
Prospect Street,

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Latitude Longitude
N 41.738713 ° E -71.156922 °
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Prospect Street 223
02726
Massachusetts, United States
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SomersetMA FriendsCemetery
SomersetMA FriendsCemetery
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