Meet the Quakers
Quakers are members of the Religious Society of Friends, one of several radical Protestant sects that emerged in the 1640s in opposition to the Church of England. Friends believe that the “Inward Light” or “that of God in everyone” allows all individuals to experience direct inner communion with God without the authority of an established church or ordained clergy. They call their gatherings for worship “meetings” and their places of worship “meeting houses.” Quakerism requires truth and honesty in speech and business, simplicity in dress and life, and class and gender equality. Their pacificism and opposition to slavery in the 18th and 19th centuries are rooted in their belief in the presence of God in all people.
Quaker settlement in Dutchess County began in earnest in the 1730s. The area was a wilderness and Quakers sought to separate themselves from the larger society in coastal Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Long Island, and Westchester County. The Oblong Meeting House, built in 1742, was the first. By 1780 with a population of nearly 25,000, Dutchess County was the most populous of New York's upriver counties and home to more Quakers than any area outside the Friends stronghold of Philadelphia. Quakers initially settled in the eastern part of Dutchess County where eight congregations were established before the Revolutionary War. The Dutch Reformed Church, centered in western Dutchess, was the second largest religious group in the county at the time with six congregations. Thirty-one Quaker meeting houses were built in Dutchess between 1742 and 1914. You will visit four of them on your tour of Quaker Meeting Houses.
Quaker settlement in Dutchess County began in earnest in the 1730s. The area was a wilderness and Quakers sought to separate themselves from the larger society in coastal Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Long Island, and Westchester County. The Oblong Meeting House, built in 1742, was the first. By 1780 with a population of nearly 25,000, Dutchess County was the most populous of New York's upriver counties and home to more Quakers than any area outside the Friends stronghold of Philadelphia. Quakers initially settled in the eastern part of Dutchess County where eight congregations were established before the Revolutionary War. The Dutch Reformed Church, centered in western Dutchess, was the second largest religious group in the county at the time with six congregations. Thirty-one Quaker meeting houses were built in Dutchess between 1742 and 1914. You will visit four of them on your tour of Quaker Meeting Houses.
While other religious groups of the period faded away with time, the minister George Fox established a structure of meetings that has remained virtually the same until the present day: local (subsequently called preparative) meetings, grouped regionally into “monthly meetings,” “quarterly meetings” above them, and a “yearly meeting” as the leading authority. Through this series of meetings, adherence to Quaker beliefs and practices was enforced and the business of managing a growing faith organization was accomplished.
