Talk:Middletown Friends Meetinghouse

Latest comment: 9 months ago by Richcajr in topic Mixed up meeting house

Mixed up meeting house edit

The meeting house described is Middletown Preparative Meeting and the interior photos are of Middletown Preparative Meeting, while the exterior photos are from Middletown Monthly meeting. https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/habshaer/pa/pa3800/pa3803/data/pa3803data.pdf

This needs to be completely redone. 73.190.240.198 (talk) 22:34, 19 March 2023 (UTC)Reply

According to labels on images from smallbones and HABS - all images are Middletown Preparative Meeting house Dwkaminski (talk) 12:51, 20 March 2023 (UTC)Reply

I just visited both meetinghouses this morning and what 73.190.240.198 said is true. The two meeting houses are located quite close to one another, but the one described by this article and is in the interior photos is not currently an active meeting house. The one in the exterior photos was built in 1835. (This date is visible in the Google Street View.) you will also note that the windows of the two interior and exterior shots don't line up or look the same. Middletown Preparative Meeting is not currently active although it has an old sign in front of it that states that they have worship First Day at 10:30am and Fifth Day at 9:30am. One of the members of the Middletown Monthly meeting said that one of their members has been going there on Thursdays anyway.

When I visited the Middletown Preparative Meeting, I found that it's being painted and they're working on repairing the roof. The painter was a very nice Irish Catholic man and I'm quite certain that at the time their posted meeting was supposed to occur, he was the only one there.

Sadly, the other meeting house is active, but just barely. On a good week, they get attendees in double digits. This morning I was one of six at meeting. They're aging and their children are moving away. So, even if it is restored, there are certainly not enough Quakers in the immediate area to support two meeting houses. Trinsics (talk) 01:03, 31 July 2023 (UTC)Reply

Thanks for alerting us about the mix up on this Wikipedia page. I have revised the page with an updated photo of the meetinghouse which this article references. I don't think I can remove the inaccurate photo of our active meetinghouse which you visited a few weeks ago but I believe the info I input will clear up the mix up! Richcajr (talk) 19:05, 27 August 2023 (UTC)Reply