Chesterfield Township Historical Society Museum

Orthodox Meeting House in Crosswicks

When the Hicksite faction of Friends broke off in 1826, they were the majority in a number of New Jersey towns, and so took over their respective meeting property. In Crosswicks, the original (or Orthodox) group that held the minority built this fine brick meeting house about a block away around 1850. Quaker meeting houses normally have two front entrances, one for men and another for women; this, like a few of the mid-nineteenth century meeting houses, has but a single front entrance, with two doors. That is also the case of the meeting houses in Westfield and the Orthodox meeting house in Trenton. The windows in the mid-nineteenth century buildings are larger than the earlier structures, with 12 over 12 panes instead of the 9 over 9 that was common.        

The meeting house now houses the Chesterfield Township Historical Society Museum.  Please contact us to visit outside normal opening hours.

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The Museum is open to the public on the 
2nd and 4th Sunday of the month
(June-September)
from 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m

Our location is
530 Ward Avenue
(at the corner of Buttonwood Street)
Crosswicks, NJ

Click here for a map of the Village of Crosswicks

19th-Century Bass Drum

Antique wheel-style coffee mill.