The Sandwich Friends Meetinghouse Museum of the Sandwich Monthly Meeting is located at the East Sandwich Meetinghouse (6 Quaker Road in East Sandwich) which was built in 1810. It is the original location of Sandwich Monthly Meeting, the oldest continuous Quaker meeting in North America where members of the Religious Society of Friends have held meeting for worship since 1657.
In addition to touring the burial grounds behind the meetinghouse and the meeting rooms on the first floor, visitors are welcome to go upstairs where they will find a number of special exhibits. An interesting place to start might be with the displays describing the basic history, to modern day, of three Quaker Meetings on Cape Cod — East Sandwich, West Falmouth, and Yarmouth— which are part of the Sandwich Monthly Meeting.
Additional exhibits focus on the foundation and theology of the Quaker faith, including Quaker perspectives and practices with respect to marriage; the Quaker-Indigenous Peoples relationship (see picture below) ; contemporary Quaker efforts locally and worldwide; and information about the burial grounds. Volunteer docents who are part of the Quaker faith will be available to answer questions.
Interestingly, the second room of the museum contains a windlass, as shown in the photo below. This device is still used today to raise and lower the partitions between the meeting rooms on the first floor. The partitions enabled 19th century Quakers to hold separate business meetings for women and men (very egalitarian for that time). Today the partitions are closed in cold weather to limit the space that is heated by our woodstove.
Exhibits in this second room are still being developed. They will include artifacts related to the religious education classes that were held here for local children during the 19th century. Visitors will also see artifacts from the “kitchen” used during extended gatherings of Friends for meetings within the New England region.
As our museum evolves, visitors are welcome to come on Sundays to attend meeting for worship at 10 a.m. and/or to explore the museum after worship at 11:15 a.m. Please check back on our website occasionally as we intend to expand the hours that we are open. The museum is not heated or airconditioned so we recommend that you dress for comfort. Nor is the museum wheelchair accessible but we hope to have a virtual tour available soon.
There is no admission fee although a $5.00 donation is suggested.
For more information, please contact us at museum@sandwichquakers.org.
Curators of the museum are Peggy Fawcett and Bob Kelley (pictured below).
