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The Story
The Universalist Society Meetinghouse at 3 River Road in Orleans is a two-story, wood-frame Greek Revival church built in 1834 by carpenter David Taylor, Jr., with a granite foundation, wood-shingle walls, and a pedimented facade. The Universalist Society had organized in 1833 after a doctrinal split from the town's Congregational Church, and this was the only Universalist church in Orleans. The best-preserved 19th-century church in town, it later merged into a Federated Church and since 1971 has served as the museum of the Orleans Historical Society.
About this site
Universalist Society Meetinghouse is a landmark in Orleans, Barnstable County. It is one of 6,558 landmarks documented in Barnstable County, among 6,897 historic sites cataloged across the county on MassRoam.
The site sits at 41.7832, -69.9775 near Orleans. The nearest cataloged historic site is Sea Call Farm - Town Cove Trail (landmark), about 0.3 miles away. Others within a short drive include Sea Call Farm Hedgerow, Sea Call Farm Meadow, and Sea Call Farm Community Gardens.
This record is drawn from public historical records. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
Orleans Universalists broke away from the town's Congregational church over doctrine beginning in 1832 and organized formally the next year; David Taylor Sr., a retired sea captain and the local postmaster, gave the land, and his son built the meetinghouse, the only Universalist church ever raised in Orleans. Roughly fifteen feet were added to the west end sometime between the 1840s and 1860s when attendance peaked. Inside, a gallery still wraps three sides with its original box pews, though those on the main floor were pulled out before 1900 and a pressed metal ceiling later hid the domed one. The two congregations reunited in 1939, and the Orleans Historical Society bought the building in 1971 and runs it as the Meeting House Museum.
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