Rye Meeting House

Rye Meeting House was built in the 1830s as a schoolhouse and relocated to the present location in 1867.  After relocation, the building was once a mission church of the nearby Episcopal Church. The Quakers obtained the space from 1959 to 2002 and henceforth gave birth to the name, Rye Meeting House. In 2011, Rye Meeting House was listed as in the National Register of Historic Places.

In 2017,  EverGreene conservator performed a preliminary finishes investigation, during which three different stencil patterns, a Christogram, and historic faux bois finishes were uncovered. Subsequently, EverGreene’s painting studio restored the faux bios finish on chancel’s wainscot. In February 2020, requested by the Committee to Save the Bird Homestead, EverGreene conservators returned and exposed more historic decorative finishes in the chancel space, focusing on the area above the stained glass window, transitions from wall to ceiling, and some further investigation of the ceiling itself, to understand how the various stencils joined together cohesively in the space.

To date, the investigation, conservation, and preservation of the historic finishes at the Rye Meeting House is still an on-going and continuous process. EverGreene is looking forward to work alongside the Committee to Save the Bird Homestead to preserve the history of the Rye Meeting House.