On Milton Road, close to the Rye City marina and at the mouth of Milton Harbor and Blind Brook, is the Rye Friends Meeting House. The wooden chapel and bell tower has been in continuously used for worship for over 100 years.
According the the sign at the site, the Meeting House has Quaker beginnings and was built in 1835. The founder of Quakerism, George Fox, landed in Rye in 1678.
The Meeting House and 1.12 acre was purchased by the City in 2002 with $150,000 provided through the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and the state Clean Water, Clean Air Bond Act (sounds like a bargain). From the 2002 announcement:
"the new Sound access project will provide a direct connection to the coast and will preserve land within the coastal floodplain, coastal wetlands and riparian
habitat.
The property will be dedicated as parkland. Following the acquisition, the City plans to design and construct a pedestrian trailway along the waterfront connecting the purchased parcel to the existing marina park. Additional improvements will include signage and landscaping to increase views of the sound."
We could use some more of that "land preservation within the coastal floodplain" right about now. Nice move in 2002.
Someone does need to get this Meeting House a nice new coat of Benjamin Moore.
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(Above) The Rye Friends Meeting House property extends down to the mouth of Blind Brook as it empties into Milton Harbor and the Long Island Sound. It is the Blind Brook that severely flooded on March 2nd and again on April 15th causing over $80 million in damage across the City of Rye.
