Nine Partners Meeting House and Cemetery
Encyclopedia
The Nine Partners Meeting House and Cemetery is located at the junction of NY state highway
343
and Church Street, in the village of Millbrook, New York
, United States. The meeting house
, the third one on the site, was built by a group of Friends
("Quakers") from the Cape Cod
region, Nantucket and Rhode Island
in 1780.
It was the largest meeting
in the Hudson Valley
, and many other meetings split off from it. Unusually, it was located near a developed area, and the Friends in it were more prosperous than their co-religionists elsewhere in the region. Its size and use of brick, along with several other architectural features, are unusual for meeting houses.
Attendance at meetings dwindled over the course of the 19th century, and in 1897 control of the property was turned over to the Nine Partners Burial Ground Association. It is still used for occasional Quaker events, and is well-preserved from the days of its regular use. In 1989 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
as part of a Multiple Property Submission of Quaker meeting houses in Dutchess County
.
There are four contributing resources
on the property. The meeting house itself is located at the southeast corner, with the cemetery taking up the north and west. Behind the meeting house are a garage and shed, both modern and non-contributing, with a contributing well and pumphouse closer to the cemetery. In front of it is a sundial
, a contributing object. A fence with brick entrance gates runs along Route 343.
The meeting house is a two-and-a-half-story four-bay
structure with load-bearing brick and masonry walls on a stone foundation
topped with a gable
d roof pierced by brick chimneys at either end. Outside dimensions are 43' 8" (524 inches (13.3 m)) wide by 60' 5" (725 inches (18.4 m)) long and 35' 1½" (421.5 inches (10.7 m)) tall. The walls are 22¾" (22.75 inches (57.8 cm)) thick. The bricks are laid with two stretcher course and one header course with half-inch (13 mm) joints of the original lime mortar.
All facade
s feature double-hung sash windows with white louvered shutters
.
They are 12-over-12 pane glass except on the lower north wall, where they are 8-over-8. Most of sashes contain the original glazing. Two plain wooden doors give entrance between the windows on either end. Arched brick lintels are used over the windows and doors. The sashes, doors, sills, shutters and frames are original, made of cypress wood
.
The interior is one large room, divided into two chambers width-wise with counter balanced, sliding wooden partitions
through the middle of both floors. The doubled style meeting house
design, first used by the Buckingham Friends Meeting House
in Buckingham, Pennsylvania
, allowed for the separation of sexes during worship services, as was the custom of the day. Each chamber has rows of wooden benches arranged around a central area, including an elevated Facing Bench where Weighty Friends would sit. A feature unique to Nine Partners among meeting houses in the area is the vestibule
created later by building a lengthwise interior wall along the south side.
In the central area there is a wood stove placed on a stone hearth and an oil lamp mounted on a post. Interior walls are original horsehair plaster
and unpainted paneling. Wooden interior columns are rounded rather than chamfer
ed as in other meetinghouses in Dutchess County.
The second floor consists of a balcony, supported by the same post and beam framing
as the roof, forming a gallery looking into the central area of each first floor chamber, divided in the same manner as the first floor. There is a provision to place wood planks over the gallery opening to the first floor, separating the second floor from the first floor completely. The chimneys do not transition through the meeting area to the ground level, but rather are supported by the summer beam (lengthwise support beam) in the attic. This was done to preserve the meeting space below intact.
With few exceptions, such as the placement of one lengthwise interior wall creating the above mentioned vestibule, gutters added in the 1970s, composite shingles on the roof introduced the following decade, and basic repairs and maintenance, the structure remains unaltered from is original state. There has been no retrofitting of electrical, plumbing or central heating.
Those graves closer to the meetinghouse are strictly those of member Friends from the early years of the meeting. As such they reflect Quaker aesthetics enough that that section of the cemetery is considered a contributing resource to the National Register listing. Later on, further away, burials were accepted from other faiths, introducing other funerary art
customs. That portion of the cemetery is not considered contributing.
in Westchester County
set up a new monthly meeting for Dutchess County, called the Oblong and Nine Partners Meeting, given the common names of their general locations. It alternated its meetings each month between the Oblong house in Pawling
and a log meeting house on the six acres (2.4 ha) where the present meeting house stands. It was replaced with a larger one in 1751 as the meeting grew.
In 1767, the meeting began considering whether slavery was compatible with Christianity, the first instance of an American congregation taking up the question. The Oblong and Nine Partners meetings were separated two years later after they had both acquired enough members to justify separate organizations. They both decided that they could not accept slaveholders or any who profited from slavery as members or financial supporters, and continued to work to convince local slaveowners to free those they held. Through the Civil War
, the Nine Partners Meeting and School was known to coordinate the Underground Railroad
activities in Dutchess and Columbia
counties.
The log meeting house was replaced with a larger one was destroyed by fire on December 27, 1778. A committee was established in April of the following year to build a more permanent structure, measuring approximately 40 by. It was designed collectively by the meeting members.
The large brick meeting house was built in 1780 at more than twice its originally budgeted cost, possibly due to the members' inexperience in bricklaying. The bricks were made a short distance directly south of the building on a farm known as Altamont Stock Farm which was the property of H. Howard Davison. The choice of brick was an unusual one for a Quaker meeting house, reflecting the greater prosperity of the meeting members and their location in a less remote area, along the Dutchess Turnpike that is today the route of US 44
. Quakers from other meetings who visited found the Nine Partners' Friends and their meetinghouse somewhat worldly.
The success of the Nine Partners meeting helped the Society grow in the Hudson Valley. Several other meetings in the county were started within it as preparative meetings, and outside the county it led to the establishment of the Cornwall meeting
in Orange County
, still active today, along with meetings as far away as what is now Canada. It soon became a quarterly meeting.
Situated to the east and slightly uphill was the former store of Samuel Mabbett, a somewhat strayed Friend and known to be a Loyalist
during the Revolutionary War
. In 1796, the Nine Partners Meeting purchased the store and converted it to the Nine Partners Boarding School. The school enrolled up to one hundred students at a time and stayed in service until 1863, when the students transferred to the Oakwood Friends School (then known as the Academy at Union Springs) in Poughkeepsie. Among its alumni were Lucretia Mott
and Daniel Anthony, father of Daniel
and Susan B. Anthony
. Within a few years of closing, the former school building and land was purchased by John D. Wing, a former student of the school. The school building was moved to the top of the hill and became a part of his estate house.
In 1826, the Meeting split into Hicksite
and Orthodox Quakers.The Hicksite branch retained use of the brick meeting house and cemetery, while the Orthodox Quakers retained the school and built their own smaller meeting house between the school and the brick meeting house. This structure remained in place until 1882, when it was removed to the Village of Millbrook. In 1897, the brick meeting house and cemetery were turned over to the Nine Partners Burial Ground Association, ending Quaker ownership of the site.
The Nine Partners Monthly Meeting
continues as a part of the New York Yearly Meeting
. The meeting house is used during the summer months. During the winter, the meeting is held at the Lyall Federated Memorial Church in Millbrook.
State highway
State highway, state road or state route can refer to one of three related concepts, two of them related to a state or provincial government in a country that is divided into states or provinces :#A...
343
New York State Route 343
New York State Route 343 is a state highway located entirely within central Dutchess County, in the Hudson Valley region of the U.S. state of New York. It runs east–west from the intersection of NY 82 in the village of Millbrook to the Connecticut state line in the town of Amenia, where...
and Church Street, in the village of Millbrook, New York
Millbrook, New York
Millbrook is a village in Dutchess County, New York, United States. It is often said to be a "low-key version of the Hamptons" and one of the wealthiest towns in New York State. Millbrook's estimated town population was 1,551 in 2008. Millbrook is located in the Hudson Valley, an hour and thirty...
, United States. The meeting house
Meeting house
A meeting house describes a building where a public meeting takes place. This includes secular buildings which function like a town or city hall, and buildings used for religious meetings, particularly of some non-conformist Christian denominations....
, the third one on the site, was built by a group of Friends
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
("Quakers") from the Cape Cod
Cape Cod
Cape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States...
region, Nantucket and Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
in 1780.
It was the largest meeting
Monthly meeting
Monthly Meetings are, traditionally, the basic unit of administration in the Religious Society of Friends .For some Friends a Monthly Meeting is a single Meeting , while for others it is a grouping of Meetings which come together for administrative purposes. Membership in the Religious Society of...
in the Hudson Valley
Hudson Valley
The Hudson Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in New York State, United States, from northern Westchester County northward to the cities of Albany and Troy.-History:...
, and many other meetings split off from it. Unusually, it was located near a developed area, and the Friends in it were more prosperous than their co-religionists elsewhere in the region. Its size and use of brick, along with several other architectural features, are unusual for meeting houses.
Attendance at meetings dwindled over the course of the 19th century, and in 1897 control of the property was turned over to the Nine Partners Burial Ground Association. It is still used for occasional Quaker events, and is well-preserved from the days of its regular use. In 1989 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
as part of a Multiple Property Submission of Quaker meeting houses in Dutchess County
Dutchess County, New York
Dutchess County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York, in the state's Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley. The 2010 census lists the population as 297,488...
.
Buildings and grounds
The meeting house and cemetery are located on a 9 acres (3.6 ha) lot at the northeast corner of the road intersection. The undulating terrain slopes up gently towards the northeast. The surrounding properties are similar large lots, some wooded and others cleared, used for residential purposes.There are four contributing resources
Contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...
on the property. The meeting house itself is located at the southeast corner, with the cemetery taking up the north and west. Behind the meeting house are a garage and shed, both modern and non-contributing, with a contributing well and pumphouse closer to the cemetery. In front of it is a sundial
Sundial
A sundial is a device that measures time by the position of the Sun. In common designs such as the horizontal sundial, the sun casts a shadow from its style onto a surface marked with lines indicating the hours of the day. The style is the time-telling edge of the gnomon, often a thin rod or a...
, a contributing object. A fence with brick entrance gates runs along Route 343.
The meeting house is a two-and-a-half-story four-bay
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
structure with load-bearing brick and masonry walls on a stone foundation
Foundation (architecture)
A foundation is the lowest and supporting layer of a structure. Foundations are generally divided into two categories: shallow foundations and deep foundations.-Shallow foundations:...
topped with a gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
d roof pierced by brick chimneys at either end. Outside dimensions are 43' 8" (524 inches (13.3 m)) wide by 60' 5" (725 inches (18.4 m)) long and 35' 1½" (421.5 inches (10.7 m)) tall. The walls are 22¾" (22.75 inches (57.8 cm)) thick. The bricks are laid with two stretcher course and one header course with half-inch (13 mm) joints of the original lime mortar.
All facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
s feature double-hung sash windows with white louvered shutters
Window shutter
A window shutter is a solid and stable window covering usually consisting of a frame of vertical stiles and horizontal rails...
.
They are 12-over-12 pane glass except on the lower north wall, where they are 8-over-8. Most of sashes contain the original glazing. Two plain wooden doors give entrance between the windows on either end. Arched brick lintels are used over the windows and doors. The sashes, doors, sills, shutters and frames are original, made of cypress wood
Chamaecyparis
Chamaecyparis is a genus of conifers in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to eastern Asia and western and eastern North America. In the nursery trade it is often incorrectly known as "false cypress" for lack of other common name, so as to distinguish it from other similar genera bearing...
.
The interior is one large room, divided into two chambers width-wise with counter balanced, sliding wooden partitions
Folding Screen
A folding screen , is a piece of free-standing furniture which consists of several frames or panels connected by hinges. It can be made in a variety of designs and with different kinds of materials. Screens have many practical and decorative uses...
through the middle of both floors. The doubled style meeting house
Friends meeting house
A Friends meeting house is a meeting house of the Religious Society of Friends , where meeting for worship may be held.-History:Quakers do not believe that meeting for worship should take place in any special place. They believe that "where two or three meet together in my name, I am there among...
design, first used by the Buckingham Friends Meeting House
Buckingham Friends Meeting House
Buckingham Friends Meeting House, in Buckingham Township, Pennsylvania, built in 1768, is nationally significant as a model for other Friends Meeting Houses.It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2003....
in Buckingham, Pennsylvania
Buckingham Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Buckingham Township is a township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 20,075 at the 2010 census. Buckingham takes its name from Buckingham in Buckinghamshire known as Bucks County in England...
, allowed for the separation of sexes during worship services, as was the custom of the day. Each chamber has rows of wooden benches arranged around a central area, including an elevated Facing Bench where Weighty Friends would sit. A feature unique to Nine Partners among meeting houses in the area is the vestibule
Vestibule (architecture)
A vestibule is a lobby, entrance hall, or passage between the entrance and the interior of a building.The same term can apply to structures in modern or ancient roman architecture. In modern architecture vestibule typically refers to a small room or hall between an entrance and the interior of...
created later by building a lengthwise interior wall along the south side.
In the central area there is a wood stove placed on a stone hearth and an oil lamp mounted on a post. Interior walls are original horsehair plaster
Lath and plaster
Lath and plaster is a building process used mainly for interior walls in Canada and the United States until the late 1950s. After the 1950s, drywall began to replace the lath and plaster process in the United States. In the United Kingdom, lath and plaster was used for some interior partition...
and unpainted paneling. Wooden interior columns are rounded rather than chamfer
Chamfer
A chamfer is a beveled edge connecting two surfaces. If the surfaces are at right angles, the chamfer will typically be symmetrical at 45 degrees. A fillet is the rounding off of an interior corner. A rounding of an exterior corner is called a "round" or a "radius"."Chamfer" is a term commonly...
ed as in other meetinghouses in Dutchess County.
The second floor consists of a balcony, supported by the same post and beam framing
Framing (construction)
Framing, in construction known as light-frame construction, is a building technique based around structural members, usually called studs, which provide a stable frame to which interior and exterior wall coverings are attached, and covered by a roof comprising horizontal ceiling joists and sloping...
as the roof, forming a gallery looking into the central area of each first floor chamber, divided in the same manner as the first floor. There is a provision to place wood planks over the gallery opening to the first floor, separating the second floor from the first floor completely. The chimneys do not transition through the meeting area to the ground level, but rather are supported by the summer beam (lengthwise support beam) in the attic. This was done to preserve the meeting space below intact.
With few exceptions, such as the placement of one lengthwise interior wall creating the above mentioned vestibule, gutters added in the 1970s, composite shingles on the roof introduced the following decade, and basic repairs and maintenance, the structure remains unaltered from is original state. There has been no retrofitting of electrical, plumbing or central heating.
Cemetery
The earliest graves are unmarked and occupy a hillside adjacent to the corner of Church Street and route 343. The earliest grave marker with a death date is from 1807. The cemetery is administered by Lyall Memorial Federated Church and is one of two still in use in the Village of Millbrook.Those graves closer to the meetinghouse are strictly those of member Friends from the early years of the meeting. As such they reflect Quaker aesthetics enough that that section of the cemetery is considered a contributing resource to the National Register listing. Later on, further away, burials were accepted from other faiths, introducing other funerary art
Funerary art
Funerary art is any work of art forming, or placed in, a repository for the remains of the dead. Tomb is a general term for the repository, while grave goods are objects—other than the primary human remains—which have been placed inside...
customs. That portion of the cemetery is not considered contributing.
History
From the 1740s, Quakers had been settling in the area of Mechanic, today known as South Millbrook. They began meeting in each others' homes. There were enough that by 1744, the quarterly meeting at PurchasePurchase, New York
Purchase, New York is a hamlet of the town of Harrison, in Westchester County. Its ZIP code is 10577. Its name is derived from Harrison's purchase, for Harrison could have as much land as he could ride in one day...
in Westchester County
Westchester County, New York
Westchester County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. Westchester covers an area of and has a population of 949,113 according to the 2010 Census, residing in 45 municipalities...
set up a new monthly meeting for Dutchess County, called the Oblong and Nine Partners Meeting, given the common names of their general locations. It alternated its meetings each month between the Oblong house in Pawling
Pawling (town), New York
Pawling is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 7,521 at the 2000 census. The town is named after Catherine Pauling, the daughter of Henry Beekman, who held the second largest land patent in the county. A misprint caused the U to change to a W and the name...
and a log meeting house on the six acres (2.4 ha) where the present meeting house stands. It was replaced with a larger one in 1751 as the meeting grew.
In 1767, the meeting began considering whether slavery was compatible with Christianity, the first instance of an American congregation taking up the question. The Oblong and Nine Partners meetings were separated two years later after they had both acquired enough members to justify separate organizations. They both decided that they could not accept slaveholders or any who profited from slavery as members or financial supporters, and continued to work to convince local slaveowners to free those they held. Through the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, the Nine Partners Meeting and School was known to coordinate the Underground Railroad
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...
activities in Dutchess and Columbia
Columbia County, New York
Columbia County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 63,096. The county seat is Hudson. The name comes from the Latin feminine form of the name of Christopher Columbus, which was at the time of the formation of the county a popular proposal...
counties.
The log meeting house was replaced with a larger one was destroyed by fire on December 27, 1778. A committee was established in April of the following year to build a more permanent structure, measuring approximately 40 by. It was designed collectively by the meeting members.
The large brick meeting house was built in 1780 at more than twice its originally budgeted cost, possibly due to the members' inexperience in bricklaying. The bricks were made a short distance directly south of the building on a farm known as Altamont Stock Farm which was the property of H. Howard Davison. The choice of brick was an unusual one for a Quaker meeting house, reflecting the greater prosperity of the meeting members and their location in a less remote area, along the Dutchess Turnpike that is today the route of US 44
U.S. Route 44 in New York
U.S. Route 44 in the state of New York is a major east–west thoroughfare in the Hudson Valley region of the state. Its entire length is maintained by the New York State Department of Transportation, with the exception of the Mid-Hudson Bridge, which is maintained by the New York State Bridge...
. Quakers from other meetings who visited found the Nine Partners' Friends and their meetinghouse somewhat worldly.
The success of the Nine Partners meeting helped the Society grow in the Hudson Valley. Several other meetings in the county were started within it as preparative meetings, and outside the county it led to the establishment of the Cornwall meeting
Cornwall Friends Meeting House
The Cornwall Friends Meeting House is a historic meeting house located on a parcel of land at the junction of Quaker Avenue and US 9W in Cornwall, New York, United States, near Cornwall-St. Luke's Hospital. It is both the oldest religious building in the town, and the first one built...
in Orange County
Orange County, New York
Orange County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area and is located at the northern reaches of the New York metropolitan area. The county sits in the state's scenic Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley...
, still active today, along with meetings as far away as what is now Canada. It soon became a quarterly meeting.
Situated to the east and slightly uphill was the former store of Samuel Mabbett, a somewhat strayed Friend and known to be a Loyalist
Loyalist (American Revolution)
Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. At the time they were often called Tories, Royalists, or King's Men. They were opposed by the Patriots, those who supported the revolution...
during the Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
. In 1796, the Nine Partners Meeting purchased the store and converted it to the Nine Partners Boarding School. The school enrolled up to one hundred students at a time and stayed in service until 1863, when the students transferred to the Oakwood Friends School (then known as the Academy at Union Springs) in Poughkeepsie. Among its alumni were Lucretia Mott
Lucretia Mott
Lucretia Coffin Mott was an American Quaker, abolitionist, social reformer, and proponent of women's rights.- Early life and education:...
and Daniel Anthony, father of Daniel
Daniel Read Anthony
Daniel Read Anthony was an American publisher and abolitionist. Considered colorful and controversial, he published the Leavenworth Times in Leavenworth, Kansas, as well as other newspapers in the area....
and Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony
Susan Brownell Anthony was a prominent American civil rights leader who played a pivotal role in the 19th century women's rights movement to introduce women's suffrage into the United States. She was co-founder of the first Women's Temperance Movement with Elizabeth Cady Stanton as President...
. Within a few years of closing, the former school building and land was purchased by John D. Wing, a former student of the school. The school building was moved to the top of the hill and became a part of his estate house.
In 1826, the Meeting split into Hicksite
Elias Hicks
Elias Hicks was an itinerant Quaker preacher from Long Island, New York. He promoted doctrines that embroiled him in controversy that led to the first major schism within the Religious Society of Friends...
and Orthodox Quakers.The Hicksite branch retained use of the brick meeting house and cemetery, while the Orthodox Quakers retained the school and built their own smaller meeting house between the school and the brick meeting house. This structure remained in place until 1882, when it was removed to the Village of Millbrook. In 1897, the brick meeting house and cemetery were turned over to the Nine Partners Burial Ground Association, ending Quaker ownership of the site.
The Nine Partners Monthly Meeting
Monthly meeting
Monthly Meetings are, traditionally, the basic unit of administration in the Religious Society of Friends .For some Friends a Monthly Meeting is a single Meeting , while for others it is a grouping of Meetings which come together for administrative purposes. Membership in the Religious Society of...
continues as a part of the New York Yearly Meeting
New York Yearly Meeting
New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, or simply New York Yearly Meeting or NYYM, is the central organizing body for Quaker meetings and worship groups in New York State, northern and central New Jersey, and southwestern Connecticut....
. The meeting house is used during the summer months. During the winter, the meeting is held at the Lyall Federated Memorial Church in Millbrook.