THE QUAKER MEETINGHOUSES
IN HARVEYSBURG, OHIO
GROVE MEETINGHOUSE & GRAVEYARD BEHIND HOUSE
(Front view)
GROVE MEETINGHOUSE & GRAVEYARD
(View from behind)
Today the Hicksite "Grove Meetinghouse", which was a Preparative Meeting of Miami Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends in Waynesville, Ohio, is a private residence. The white frame building has been much altered over the years. The height of the building was reduced and there were originally two separate entrances on the front face for men and women. The small cemetery is located behind the residence. All the stones are underground. The Hicksite meetinghouse and cemetery are located on the far east end of Main Street.
THE ORTHODOX MEETINGHOUSE
Clark & Maple Streets ~ Harveysburg
Replaced the original Orthodox Quaker meetinghouse of 1828
that had been on the same site.
This Harveysburg Orthodox Meetinghouse was built in 1875 (Harveysburg Preparative Meeting~Orthodox). The following was published in Waynesville's Miami-Gazette (in the Harveysburg column) on May 19th, 1875:
The Orthodox Friends are collecting material for a new brick Church to be built on the side of the old one. Which they will begin to tear down in the course of eight orten days. They will probably hold meetings in the school house until the new one is finished.
In 1942 this Orthodox preparative meeting became Miami Monthly Meeting (Orthodox). Over the years the building has undergone many renovations and has been a church for other denominations as well, e.g. the Southern Baptist Church in 1963 and by the Church of God. The photograph above was taken in 1982.
Above & Below: The Orthodox Meetinghouse today.
Above & Below: The Orthodox Quaker Meetinghouse as it once looked.
Grove Meeting was established as an indulged meeting of Miami Monthly Meeting in Waynesville, Ohio on January 29th, 1817. In 1823 it became a "meeting for worship" and a "Preparative Meeting" of Miami Monthly Meeting in Waynesville. The original Grove Meetinghouse was located on an eight-acre lot about one and one-half miles south of Harveysburg (Survey 1045), about half way to Henpeck. It was the first church in the area to be built. Richard Moon originally owned the land. The first house was built of logs and was used as both a meeting and schoolhouse. It had a thriving school. The Hicksite Separation of 1828 wrecked its havoc on Grove Meeting in 1828. The meeting divided into Hicksite and Orthodox groups and both groups moved into the newly platted village of Harveysburg. The Hicksite Meetinghouse, continuing on as an indulged, preparative and meeting for worship under the jurisdiction of Miami Monthly Meeting (Hicksite) in Waynesville, survived until it was laid down in 1907. The Hicksite meetinghouse still stands as a private residence at the end East Main Street. There is a small cemetery next to the building. The Orthodox group became known as Harveysburg Preparative Meeting. It became known as Miami Monthly Meeting (Orthodox) in 1942 when monthlythly meeting moved from Waynesville to Harveysburg. It was laid down in 1960. The Orthodox Meetinghouse still stands as a private residence at the fork of the road created by Maple and Clark Streets in Harveysburg. The Orthodox Quaker Cemetery is located across the street behind two houses.
Also see, The History of Warren County, Ohio (Chicago: W. H. Beers & Co., 1882), p. 651.
Two nearby subordinate meetings to Miami Monthly Meeting (Orthodox) were:
Flat Fork Preparative in Massie Township, Warren County, located at 7991 Oregonia Road (1922-1942):
Above: Flat Fork Meetinghouse today
(Private residence)
and, Turtle Creek Preparative in Wayne Township, Warren County (1859-1942), just a few miles south of Waynesville, click on photographs. It was a very old preparative meeting that was established long before the Hicksite Separation, a subordinate meeting of Miami Monthly Meeting in Waynesville:
2 Comments:
Very cool stuff! I was wondering if you knew of any abandoned one-room type of schoolhouses in the Waynesville/Warren County area in general.
My father Robert L. Johnson was the first Pastor of the Church when it became Harverysburg Southern Baptist Church. My mother Frances B. Johnson was the church pianist. Waynesville Baptist Church had sponsored the new church as a mission and helped to support it financially until it could become independent. Before it actually was usable, it was my father who built a second floor within the interior of the building and added rooms on the second floor to be used for Sunday School classes, the second floor only covered half of the actual square footage on the interior, the section that was still open was the church sanctuary and the ceilings soared in height!! At this time in the early 1960's there were large trees on the front lawn that provide beautiful shade in the summer months. The church had also purchased land down the road from the church that was to be used as a church camp and they had already began some of the construction for the camp when it was decided that the lake was going in and this particular area is now underwater.
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