Curious About Quakers? The Mattapoisett Friends Meeting will hold an open house on Sunday, October 6 at 10:00 am in the historical Quaker meetinghouse at 103 Marion Rd. Members will share interesting facts about Quakers, including the cannibal Quakers of Nantucket. Afterwards, there will be coffee and conversation in the meeting’s community hall. Assistive listening system available. Please contact mattquakers@gmail.com for more information.
Speaking of historical, an update to the “historical graffiti” discovered in the fall of 2017 is finally available. About 12 feet above ground, on the trim board of the meetinghouse roof, there’s a carving that says 10/10/68 Allen Ashley. However, nobody knew if it was 1868 or 1968 since there were Allen Ashleys recorded to have lived locally in both time periods. Somebody in the area wrote to the meeting and let them know that there was an Allen Ashley who lived in Fairhaven and was a painter and wallpaper specialist who could have carved his name in 1968. Much later, Michael Emmons, an architectural history doctoral candidate at the University of Delaware, happened upon the article online. Mr. Simmons studies historic graffiti for his doctoral thesis. He had this to say: My gut sense, looking at the style of the lettering, is that this is a 20th century graffiti—so 1968, not 1868. Typically, mid-19th century graffiti has a bit more style to it. It was the age of penmanship education, so the lettering usually exhibited serif “fonts” and was less boxy. Also, the date in the format xx/xx/xx, rather than Oct 10, 1868, seems more 20th century.