Meetinghouse with a capital “M”

There are a number of architectural elements that have now been uncovered that identify this formerly forlorn structure as an historic New England Meetinghouse. The king post truss, the triangle at the top, was the height of open span engineering in 1828. The king post, the vertical member in the middle, in combination with the struts, the diagonal members radiating from the center, helps to support the long and heavy rafters that make up the roof. The king post also supports the center of the 36 foot tie beam, the long horizontal member, with an interesting joint called a wedged half dovetail. The tie beam “ties” the eave walls together, and allows the building to have an enormous open span, capable of holding the large audiences that came to listen to abolitionists like Frederick Douglass. At the front of the building, two enormous windows have been roughed out, architecturally identifying the building as a meetinghouse from the exterior.