When I started working on The Clove I had no idea that I would be visiting my family’s Quaker roots to the extent that I have. Part of the book deals with a cross-country journey taken by my 5X GGrandfather Ben Earl and his brother Richard. The trip will take days and involves some heavy hauling, an ox named Cyrus and a giant draft horse named Boaz. Since the trip takes place in the 18th century, pre-Holiday Inn Express, the Earls rely on Friends to put them up along the way. Friends, meaning The Society of Friends, or Quakers. The actual 18th-century Quaker Meetings and communities that existed along the route were aware of and familiar with one another, were pretty conveniently spaced, and, in many cases, the buildings still exist. Their Journey begins in Woodbury near the Smith Clove Meeting House.
After traveling all day, they arrive at the home of David and Clementine Sands in Cornwall, The Sands had Meetings in their own home before building a proper Meeting house across town. The original Meetinghouse is now a museum and has served the community in a variety of ways since the beginning. Here is the Sands-Ring Homestead:
When the congregation outgrew the Sand’s Home, they built the
Quaker Meeting House, still standing as well. Here’s the interior, unchanged for the most part since 1790.
After an encounter with the local militia, who were trying to confiscate the Sand’s home because they thought the Quaker’s pacifist views were anti-American (it didn’t work), the Earls headed for Plattekill and Edward Hallock’s home. While the Quaker Meetinghouse is apparently a private home now, it still stands and the burial ground next to it is fairly well maintained.
Leaving Plattekill, they head to New Paltz to prepare for the long climb over Maggonk (Mohonk) Mountain. Historically, the New Paltz area was primarily Huguenots and only a few Quakers. I was able to find a little community of Friends in the hamlet of Butterville. There is still a tiny burial ground there off the side of the road, but I haven’t come up with a building… yet. The fictional scene that takes place with the fictional Quakers I have living there includes the men helping an escaped slave, something not unheard of by Quakers of the period. I have yet to write the scenes that come after this visit, so what happens next is a surprise for all of us.
My Grandmother, Edith Earl, was a Quaker as a little girl, but she was the last one in our family that I am aware of. The more I read about the Society of Friends, the more I admire their ideals and methods. I hope that I honor them with my portrayal
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