The Maple Grove Friends Church is a historic

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

meeting house on

U.S. Route 1A U.S. Route 1A (US 1A) is the name of several highways found in the United States. North Carolina Wake Forest–Youngsville U.S. Highway 1A (US 1A) is a alternate route of US 1 through the towns of Wake Forest and ...

in the Maple Grove village of southern

Fort Fairfield, Maine Fort Fairfield is a town in Aroostook County, eastern Maine, United States, located along the Canada–US border. The population was 3,322 at the 2020 census. History Fort Fairfield is named for John Fairfield, 13th and 16th governor of Ma ...

. Built in 1863 and renovated in 1906, it is believed to be the oldest ecclesiastical building in the Fort Fairfield area and the northernmost station on the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2000.

Description and history

The Maple Grove Friends Church is set on the west side of United States Route 1A in southern Fort Fairfield, a short way north of its junction with Up Country Road. It is a modest single-story wood frame structure, with clapboard siding, stone foundation, front-gable roof, and a three-stage square tower at its northeast corner. The east-facing front is dominated by a large stained-glass window and the tower, whose lower stage houses the main entrance, sheltered by a gabled hood with Italianate bracketing. The middle stage of the tower is shingled, and the upper stage has an open belfry with round-arch openings; the tower is topped by a pyramidal roof. The interior of the church is divided into the main sanctuary, which takes up two-thirds of the space, with the vestry facilities taking up the rest. The sanctuary is lined with oak pews, and there is a raised platform at the southwest corner, with a lectern. The ceiling and upper part of the walls are finished in metal paneling. A number of Quaker families moved to the Fort Fairfield area beginning in 1859, soon bringing interest for the construction of a meeting house. When built in 1863, this building was a simple structure, lacking both the tower and the stained-glass window. In 1906 the building underwent renovation, at which time the tower and window were added; the latter was dedicated to William Penn Varney and Lydia Cook Varney, longtime leaders of the meeting. The church was opened to other religious denominations in the early decades of the 20th century, but was closed due to declining enrollments sometime after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. By 1972 the building had been purchased by an Orthodox Presbyterian congregation. It was given to Frontier Heritage, a local historical society, in 1995, and rededicated as a Quaker meeting house in 2000. The church is believed to have served as a station on the

for African Americans escaping enslavement and the fugitive slave laws, based on oral history of Quaker families who were part of the congregation. The church floor shows evidence of a hiding place and a concealed hatch. The most northernmost station on the Underground Railroad, the church allowed escaping slaves to rest and hide before following nearby Tomlinson Brook which led across the border to Tomlinson Lake near

Perth-Andover Perth-Andover is a former village in Victoria County, New Brunswick, Victoria County, New Brunswick, Canada. It held village status prior to 2023. It is now part of the village of Southern Victoria. History Andover was originally called Little ...

New Brunswick, Canada New Brunswick is a province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to the west. It is part of Eastern Cana ...

where a free Black family would assist them in finding new homes in Canada.Jim Dumville, "The Tomlinson Lake Hike to Freedom special event on July 3", ''The Toronto Star'', June 23, 2021
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References

{{National Register of Historic Places Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Churches completed in 1863 Churches in Aroostook County, Maine Quaker meeting houses in Maine Fort Fairfield, Maine National Register of Historic Places in Aroostook County, Maine Underground Railroad in Maine Churches on the Underground Railroad

Description and history

See also

References