Wellsboro’s First Meeting House.

Very little is known about our first meetinghouse. The only descriptions come from memoirs and are very brief. It was the first house of worship in town and was made of hewed logs. The building was said to be small, thus, some have suggested it must have been around twelve by sixteen feet. It was located across Central Ave from the town green near the corner of Main St., behind where the law offices are located today. Besides worship, it was also used for public meetings. It was also used as a schoolhouse by subscription and after the establishment of the common school system, was used as the district schoolhouse (1813-1816) until the Wellsboro Academy was built. Membership in Wellsboro Monthly Meeting declined significantly after the death of Mary Wells Morris in 1819 and further declined after the death of Benjamin Wistar Morris in 1825. As a result, the meetinghouse was not likely used as a house of worship very often after his death. It was still standing after 1830 but was said to be torn down or unusable by 1838.

While no photos or accurate descriptions of the meetinghouse are known to exist, it was likely similar to the Roaring Creek Meetinghouse that still stands. The Roaring Creek Meetinghouse is currently owned by Locust Township and is maintained by the local garden club. An indulged Meeting for Worship is held there once a year, during Sixth-month. The Roaring Creek Meetinghouse is a hewed log structure built in what was then a frontier settlement. The structure is similar to the Catawissa Meetinghouse which also still exists. As these Meetings all belong to the same Yearly Meeting, they are suggestive of the meetinghouses built in the pioneer settlement communities during that era of Pennsylvania history.

In looking at the photos, there are unique architectural features that are common to many Quaker meetinghouses in the colonial period. Meetinghouses tended to be overly plain structures with no ornamentation or excess detail. Then as now, Unprogrammed Meetings for worship were a form of meditation seeking an experience of the Divine. Thus, planned sermons, organs, choral singing, statues, stain glasses windows, rituals, and altars were seen as both unnecessary and a distraction from hearing that still small voice within each person. The plainness can be seen in every detail down to the benches they sat upon.

I can remember sitting on such plain benches as a child. There are still meetinghouses that have these benches to this day. Some members gravitate toward these hard benches as they don’t want to get too comfortable during silent worship and risk falling asleep. A stiff, hard bench being good for the soul and silent worship. In this early period, there was a separation of females and males during both worship and Meeting for business. Unlike other religions, it was not out of a sense of purity but again out of the desire to minimize distractions from this form of meditation seeking the Divine. Most meetinghouses of the period had two entrances, one for females and one for males.

Notice in the second set of photos above, partitions separate the women’s and men’s sides. This would be open during Meeting for Worship and closed during Meeting for Business. This can and has often been misconstrued. Unlike the sentiment of the time in which men ruled, the opposite was true amongst Friends. The partition was closed during Meeting for Business to make sure men did not dominate, and that women’s leadings and concerns were equally considered. Each would hold separate Meetings for Business and then considered all the concerns raised. From the beginning, the Religious Society of Friends professed the equality of women and men in worship, business, and ministry. Many prominent Quaker women were recorded ministers and traveled in ministry. There was also no age barrier inhibiting children from giving messages during worship (vocal ministry). The best vocal ministry was not considered to be the most educated, most well thought out, the most eloquent, the most profound, the most introspective, or even the most correct for all people, but the one that nudged those people present at that time to go further down the path toward the Truth and experience the Divine. Thus, anyone could be called to rise during silent worship and give a message.

Note that in the photos that the men’s side is larger. This to be expected in pioneer settlements, as there were often fewer women in these communities. The two sides should have been equal in every other way. In the front on both sides, there are two levels of benches. Unprogrammed Meetings did not have an altar or a set of rituals presided over by a pastor. These benches in the front were simply called facing benches and are where the elders and recorded ministers of the Meeting would generally sit. While anyone in Meeting could be moved to give a message, those who were known to have a calling and aptitude for vocal ministry would be encouraged by Meeting to share their gift. One of the ways to encourage them was to record their gifts (recorded minister) and encourage them to sit on the facing bench. Ministry in the service of the Meeting could take on many forms: vocal ministry, ministry of service, ministry of pastoral care, ministry of education, ministry of finance, etc. Each type of ministry is equally valued and respected.

As the concern over men dominating Meeting decreased the partitions were left in the open position. With time the men and women sat together, by all sitting on one side of the partition or removing the partition altogether. If the partition remained, the tendency was to move the good benches to the side that was being used. It makes me wonder whether the difference in the benches between the two sides in the Roaring Creek Meeting today is because of this tendency.

Today in unprogrammed Meetings there are still buildings with hard benches and with facing benches upfront. However, there are also a variety of other types of spaces being used. With Friends, worship was never about the meetinghouse. Friends recognized that every individual could have a direct relationship with God and that the time and place did not matter. However, one can still see the influence of the Truth expressed in these old meetinghouses today. If not benches facing each other, chairs will often be placed in a circle. In both cases, it is a nod to the fact that we seek that of God in our midst, in the center of Meeting. Brought to being and experienced through our communal worship. Friends in unprogrammed Meetings still seek a direct experience of God through silent worship in plain, unornamented spaces. In this way eliminating the unnecessary and distracting influences. In the same sense, it would be very rare in these Meetings to hear singing or music. However, everyone is still asked to share their gifts and their experience of the Divine.