Port Townsend Friends Meeting to host open house of new building Sunday

Published 12:01 am Wednesday, November 12, 2014

PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend Friends Meeting will host an open house at its new meeting house at 1841 Sheridan St. next Sunday.

The group — officially members of the Religious Society of Friends but often known as Quakers — will gather at 9:30 a.m. and have regular silent worship from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Sunday.

Following worship, the meeting house will be open until 3 p.m. to greet visitors.

Refreshments will be served.

Visitors will be able to see Freda, the peace dove, which was created for the Quakers by Phoebe Huffman of Naked Pottery.

Members of the Port Townsend Friends Meeting participated in writing the words for “peace” in many languages on Freda’s feathers.

The building is the Port Townsend Friends first real home.

The group purchased the former Church of Christ building for $250,000 in August.

Much of the money was pledged within a week of the news that the structure was for sale, according to Caroline Wildflower, clerk of the Meetinghouse Committee for the Port Townsend Friends Meeting.

Before buying the structure, the group, made up of about 50 members, had met at the Port Townsend Community Center for more than a dozen years, announcing its presence with a sandwich board out front, Wildflower said.

Now, it has 2,280 square feet and a main worship room with a 75-person capacity and large windows.

For more information, visit www.PTQuaker.org.