Waynesville has significance as an important Quaker settlement.

Quaker White Brick Meeting House

Quakers came to Waynesville because of their opposition to slavery. By the early 1800s Quakers in Waynesville were gathering for worship in log cabins. By 1811 the Miami Monthly Meeting House was completed. This structure is the oldest regularly attended religious building west of the Allegheny Mountains. Quakers (Friends) still worship here today. Friends Meetings continue the 350 year tradition of silent worship, there being no presiding pastor, priest, or minister. Friends believe that within each human being there is a divine spark or “inner light,” and that every person is a vehicle of God. There is no creed, no prepared order of worship or sermon. This simple Christian form of worship seeks for direct communion with the divine without an intermediary.

For more information, visit Mary L. Cook Public Library, www.mlcook.lib.oh.us or Museum at the Friends Home, www.friendshomemuseum.org