Likely the oldest surviving meeting house of the Society of Friends in Maine, the Casco Friends Meeting House is a modest one-story building sheathed in clapboards. The roof is front gabled and there is a small lean-to projection on the south elevation that contains the entry. Two small windows sit in the center of the facade, one in the gable. All trim is plain and the building contains no ornamentation except for narrow cornerboards and cornice returns. The interior is divided into two sections, one for men and one for women, separated by a partition with a hinged shutter in the center that allowed for communication between the two sides. The interior has undergone little alteration since the meeting house was constructed. Quakerism first appeared in Maine in 1662 when a group of Friends, escaping persecution in New Hampshire, held a meeting in what is now South Berwick before eventually relocating to Boston. The first established society was founded in Eliot in 1730. Despite opposition from the Congregationalists, Quakerism spread throughout southern Maine in the eighteenth century. The Friends Meeting in Casco was organized in 1802. Regular Sunday meetings were held until 1921 and the meeting house is now used only seasonally by summer residents.
Year Listed: 1975
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