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Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
Postcards from Falmouth Oral History Transcript
Recorded: February 24, 2020
Oral Historian: Rabbi Elias Lieberman
Interviewer: Troy Clarkson
Topic: East End Meeting House
Note: The right column references postcards by identifiers searchable in the Digital
Commonwealth online collection.
00:00
[Music]
00:44
I'd like to begin by asking you to tell
00:46
us your full name
00:48
and the postcard you'll be discussing I
00:50
am Elias
00:51
Jacob Lieberman I'm rabbi of Falmouth
00:54
Jewish Congregation
00:55
and I am discussing this wonderful
00:57
postcard
00:58
which depicts the East End Meeting House
#falmouthjewishcongregation
#eastendmeetinghouse
Gunning_Hatchville_Bldg_0526
through 0531
01:01
in East Falmouth
01:03
so the East End Meeting House has a rich
01:06
history in this community
01:08
and it goes way back to the
01:12
the days of the incorporation of our
01:14
community tell us a little bit about it
01:15
absolutely
01:16
um I need to give a shout out I'm
01:18
indebted to a couple of people who did
1
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
01:20
some wonderful
01:21
early research on the Meeting House one
01:23
of whom is Reverend Doug Showalter the
#douglasshowalter
01:25
minister for many many years of First
#firstcongregationalchurch
01:27
Congregational Church here in Falmouth
01:29
he's an avid historian and he did
01:31
incredible research on the history of
01:33
the Congregationalist community in
01:35
Falmouth and the other is Andrea Rosen
01:37
who for her Master's thesis in
01:40
Architecture
01:41
did a study of the history and the
01:43
structure of the East End Meeting House
01:45
so here's what I learned back in 1686
01:49
among the early settlers in Falmouth
01:51
decided it was time for a meeting house
01:53
so a very simple structure was
01:55
erected with town funds probably
01:59
where Mill Road is in Falmouth today the
#andrearosen
#1686
#millroad
Gunning_Village_Sts_0001 through
0016
02:02
Old Burying Ground
#oldburyingground
02:04
several structures occupied that spot
02:06
until well into the 1700s it was decided
02:09
to
02:09
move the location of that meeting house
02:12
and a simple structure was built on what
02:15
is now the
2
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
02:16
Falmouth Village Green later that became
#falmouthvillagegreen
Gunning_Village_Sts_0053 through
0078
02:19
the beautiful
02:19
First Congregational Church with its
02:21
beautiful white spire
02:23
etc later in the 1700s as the town grew
02:28
there was a perceived need for a second
02:30
meeting house
02:31
and there was a debate about where that
02:33
should be so
02:35
the powers that be decided to divide the
02:37
town in half
02:38
with a dividing line roughly separating
02:41
Teaticket from the rest of Falmouth
#teaticket
02:43
Tataket at that time
#tataket
02:45
and it was decided that the Falmouth
02:48
meeting house would be the beautiful
02:49
white church on the green
02:51
and that a new meeting house would be
02:52
built in East Falmouth
#eastfalmouth
02:55
Ezekiel Robinson one of the early
#ezekielrobinson
02:58
founders of Falmouth
02:59
and a land owner donated land out in
03:02
what is now Hatchville
#hatchville
03:04
the corner of Hatchville and Sandwich
#hatchvilleroad #sandwichroad
03:07
Roads today
Gunning_Village_Bldg_0346
through 0365
3
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
03:08
and that's where a very simple structure
03:11
was built
03:12
the initial meeting house in the east
03:15
end of town
03:17
it was probably a simple uh gabled roof
03:19
structure
03:21
its main entrance faced the small road
03:23
Hatchville Road
03:24
its long side was facing the main road
03:28
which is
03:28
Sandwich Road so in in
03:32
those days uh you mentioned that uh
03:35
the original meeting house down by Mill
03:37
Road was constructed actually with
03:39
town funds so explain to us a little
03:42
bit about how that worked because in
03:43
those days as you know
03:44
those meeting houses were both civic
03:47
spaces where people would gather but
03:49
also where people would worship
03:50
absolutely this predates what we've come
03:52
to think of as the separation of church
03:55
and state
03:56
but prior to that point it functioned as
03:58
as you say
03:59
a meeting house for civic affairs for
04:01
worship
4
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
04:03
those structures certainly
04:04
Congregationalist meetinghouse were very
04:06
simple
04:07
and it was only probably early
04:10
1840s or so when this principle began to
04:13
evolve
04:14
that there should be a separation
04:16
between government and
04:17
church and religion that
04:21
meeting houses and worship spaces took
04:23
on a decided
04:25
Christian look spires were added
04:28
bells were added as if to say we're now
04:31
dedicating this space
04:33
for religious purposes civic purposes
04:36
might be held elsewhere and so that's
04:38
when many of those buildings begin to
04:40
look more like a stereotypical
04:43
New England church and that was true for
04:45
the East End Meeting house
04:48
1842 a member of that congregation whose
#1842
04:52
name was Shubael
#shubaellawrence
04:54
Lawrence and I meant to look up the
04:57
derivation of that name because it's
04:59
certainly a biblical name
05:00
and to the best of my Hebrew knowledge
05:02
it probably means God's
5
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
05:03
oath
05:06
regardless he left a bequest in his
05:09
estate
05:10
he said I will leave to the East End
05:14
Congregational Society the sum of ten
05:17
thousand dollars
05:18
to be invested in what he described as
05:20
good stocks
05:22
which will serve as a preaching and
05:24
teaching endowment
05:25
to fund a minister and his
05:29
service to the community and I’ll give
05:31
you that gift if you do the following
05:34
if you rotate the building 90 degrees
05:37
so that the main entrance faces Sandwich
05:40
Road
05:41
if you put up a spire and a bell
05:45
and you agree to maintain the cemetery
05:48
behind
05:48
the meeting house in perpetuity
05:52
the congregation jumped at that
05:53
opportunity it met his
05:56
requirements within two years of his
05:58
will being
05:59
probated and the meeting house really
06:03
took on the look that it has to this
06:06
very day
#eastendcongregationalsociety
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�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
06:07
so can you share with us uh
06:10
to the degree that that you know
06:14
the evolution then of the that building
06:17
since that point
06:21
nearly 200 years the occupants and the
06:24
people who have gathered
06:25
right so I’ve learned some interesting
06:27
things about the building from reading
06:29
and certainly from experiencing uh
06:30
the building over the past few decades
06:34
when it was originally built there were
06:36
galleries
06:37
on three sides of that building upstairs
06:39
galleries
06:40
those galleries were designated for the
06:42
poor and for servants
06:44
pews down below the fixed pews were
06:47
essentially sold
06:48
to family members when the building was
06:52
rotated
06:53
two of the side galleries came down
06:55
there was a remaining gallery in the
06:56
back which which still exists
06:59
the building really had no heat not
07:02
surprisingly
07:02
there were two pot-bellied stoves with
07:05
long pipes
7
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
07:07
going around sides of the building not
07:08
doing much
07:10
the records indicate that people would
07:12
bring heated bricks
07:14
they would bring small portable stoves
07:16
of some kind to
07:17
set at their feet and uh the pews had
07:21
doors to try to keep out some of the
07:22
draft
07:23
but it's hard to imagine that it was a
07:24
very comfortable space especially in
07:27
winter weather uh
07:31
it's still a very beautiful building
07:32
much of the the glass windows are still
07:34
the original glass
07:37
through the years the building suffered
07:39
from
07:40
the weight of that additional steeple
07:42
and bell
07:44
since the building was not originally
07:45
designed to carry that weight
07:47
over the course of time the roof began
07:49
to experience some serious sag
07:52
so uh I’m jumping ahead now so
07:56
by the 1960s that
07:59
congregation had grown quite small and
08:02
it was hard to
8
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
08:03
find the finances to maintain that
08:05
building in the way that
08:07
it needed to be a
08:11
society was formed the East End
08:12
Congregational Society
08:14
circa 1964 and it set about to do some
08:17
serious fundraising to address some of
08:19
those
08:20
problems with the building and it was
08:22
quite successful in that regard
08:24
the building was used um somewhat beyond
08:27
that point it was open to many different
08:29
denominations who would use it
08:31
and almost exclusively in the summer by
08:33
that point
08:34
summer worship became a a factor from
08:37
the 1960s on
08:40
by about 1981 that group had grown so
08:44
small
08:44
that the decision was made to see if
08:46
there might be another
08:48
faith community interested in taking
08:50
over that building
08:51
and taking over the responsibility of
08:53
maintaining it
08:55
and by happy coincidence certainly for
08:56
the Jewish community that was right at
9
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
08:58
the time when a fledgling Jewish
09:00
congregation was being formed
09:04
Bob Ament Jeff Oppenheim
09:07
to stalwarts of our community were
09:09
movers and shakers both young men at the
09:11
time
09:12
but they realized that there were
09:13
probably enough Jews in Falmouth by that
09:15
point
09:16
to see if it would be feasible to
09:19
pull together a congregation and that's
09:21
what happened around 1981
09:24
and around that time this wonderful
09:26
offer came from the East End
09:27
Congregational Society
09:29
we'd like to offer you this historic
09:31
meeting house
09:32
we'd like to offer you the parsonage
09:34
house which sits just down the road on
09:36
Hatchville Road
09:38
as well as that preaching and teaching
09:40
endowment
09:42
and it's my understanding that by 1981
09:44
that ten thousand dollars
09:46
was about seventy five thousand dollars
09:50
by the way that ten thousand dollars in
09:52
1842 would have been the
#robertament #jeffreyoppenheim
#1981
10
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
09:53
equivalent of about three hundred
09:55
thousand dollars in 2020
09:56
dollars
09:57
so it was a significant gift the Jewish
10:00
community
10:00
jumped at that opportunity it was really
10:02
quite extraordinary because
10:04
the Jewish community had been meeting in
10:06
Saint Barnabas church
#saintbarnabaschurch
Gunning_Village_Bldg_0316
through 0343
10:07
in bank meeting rooms and the
10:10
opportunity to create a home
10:12
was really just enormously powerful and
10:16
wonderful
10:18
the meeting house was conveyed to the
10:20
Jewish community
10:21
the Jewish community set about raising
10:22
funds to make restorations
10:25
and to do those things necessary to
10:27
transform it into a synagogue
10:31
the parsonage house became offices and
10:33
classrooms for this fledgling
10:35
congregation
10:36
and uh the congregation took on the
10:39
opportunity to maintain this building in
10:41
perpetuity
10:42
as well as the cemetery behind it so
11
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
10:46
someone at the time approached the
10:49
American Jewish
10:50
Archives premier historical research
10:53
organization
10:54
and we received the really phenomenal
10:57
message that to the best of its
10:59
knowledge
11:00
this was the first time in recorded
11:01
history of a Christian community
11:04
donating its building to a Jewish
11:05
community
11:06
so that it might have a home to worship
11:08
in which is a pretty powerful story
11:13
until this very moment didn't know that
11:14
portion of the history so
11:16
what a remarkable example uh of the
11:19
sense of community that
11:20
to this day is woven through uh
11:24
so many facets of our community
11:27
absolutely
11:28
Troy right around that time
11:31
circa 1983 the first uh Jewish service
11:34
was held there
11:35
on July 29 1983 a Sabbath service
11:39
and members from all over the community
11:41
were invited and attended
11:44
Jewish communities need and go to great
#americanjewisharchives
#1983
12
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
11:47
lengths to
11:48
attain a Torah scroll the Torah contains
11:51
the Five Books of Moses and
11:53
is read regularly in Jewish worship
11:56
the congregation did not have a Torah
11:58
scroll but was able to acquire one
12:01
with a very special history
12:05
after World War II it was discovered
#worldwartwo
12:07
that the Nazis had collected Torah
#nazi
12:10
scrolls and Jewish ceremonial objects
12:12
from all of the Jewish communities that
12:14
they had destroyed in Europe
12:16
they gathered all those items in Prague
12:18
and warehoused them
12:19
at the end of the war they were
12:20
discovered including hundreds of
12:23
Torah scrolls some that were centuries
12:25
old
12:26
in many cases they were too far damaged
12:28
to ever be used again
12:31
those which could be restored were sent
12:34
to a synagogue in Westminster
12:36
London which became the repository for
12:38
what are called
12:39
Shoah scrolls Shoah is the Hebrew word
12:41
for devastation the word
12:43
referring to the Holocaust those scrolls
13
#torah
#london
#holocaust
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
12:46
that were able to be repaired were then
12:48
made available on permanent
12:50
loan to Jewish communities around the
12:52
world
12:54
Falmouth Jewish congregation applied for
12:56
one of those scrolls
12:58
and the cost of bringing it here
13:00
shipping it insuring it
13:02
were donated by the Church of the
#churchofthemessiah
Gunning_WoodsHole_Bldg_0565
through 0569
13:04
Messiah in Woods Hole
#woodshole
13:06
so that church that community made
13:08
possible
13:09
a key element in the celebration of
13:12
Jewish life and worship for our
13:13
community
13:14
and that's a that's a gift that
13:17
remains firmly in the minds of our
13:19
community ever since
13:22
so really the the East End Meeting House
13:25
symbolizes
13:27
so much more than being simply a
13:29
gathering place but
13:31
how it exists today is
13:35
based on the story you just shared is
13:37
one of the shining examples of
13:39
community really absolutely without
14
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
13:42
question
13:43
by happy coincidence the Hebrew word for
13:46
a synagogue
13:47
two Hebrew words beit which means house
13:50
knesset
13:51
gathering or meeting so beit knesset
13:55
really can translate
13:56
quite easily as a meeting house
13:59
and so it's very wonderful that the
14:01
first worship space for our community
14:04
was a beit knesset from 1797
14:07
a meeting house that's wonderful is
14:09
there anything else you'd like to share
14:11
I’ll just give a quick synopsis of what
14:12
happened since then
14:14
the congregation um had taken over the
14:17
Meeting House circa 1982
14:19
did the necessary restorations and began
14:22
to use it full time for worship
14:24
um the congregation grew quite quickly
14:27
in the 1980s
14:29
and it became apparent by that point
14:30
that it would need to expand
14:32
but there was no room around the meeting
14:34
house for that expansion
14:36
so the congregation purchased 10 acres
14:38
of land across Hatchville Road
#1797
15
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
14:41
and built a building with the
14:43
possibility of picking up that
14:45
meeting house and moving it across the
14:47
street
14:48
and then joining it to the building
14:50
which was designed for that new space
14:53
for various reasons that I won't go into
14:55
that didn't happen the meeting house
14:56
still sits in its
14:58
original location and we have another
14:59
beautiful facility
15:01
our Seifer Community Center building
15:03
which has a chapel classroom
15:05
social hall et cetera so we have these
15:07
two wonderful buildings
15:08
the meetinghouse is still used although
15:10
primarily in warm weather
15:13
we put in heating and air conditioning
15:15
back in the 1980s
15:17
90s so it is certainly functional but
15:20
most of what we do takes place in our
15:22
community center building
15:24
but that building remains a cherished
15:26
part of our congregation
15:28
uh and hopefully always will be
15:31
wonderful thank you so much for uh
15:33
sharing this rich history with
16
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
15:36
all of them you are very welcome thank
15:38
you
15:40
[Music]
17
�
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Title
A name given to the resource
Transcript of Rabbi Elias Lieberman's Oral History on the East End Meeting House
1686
1797
1842
1981
1983
American Jewish Archives
Andrea Rosen
Church of the Messiah
Douglas Showalter
East End Congregational Society
East End Meeting House
East Falmouth
Elias Lieberman
Ezekiel Robinson
Falmouth Jewish Congregation
Falmouth Village Green
First Congregational Church
Hatchville
Hatchville Road
Holocaust
jeffrey oppenheim
london
mill road
nazi
old burying ground
oral history
Postcards from Falmouth
robert ament
saint barnabas church
sandwich road
shubael lawrence
tataket
teaticket
torah
transcript
troy clarkson
Woods Hole
world war 2