Part of New England Yearly Meeting, Smithfield Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends is one of the oldest Quaker meetinghouses in the area. Founded in 1703, the meeting is the oldest surviving institution in Woonsocket. The original meetinghouse was built in 1719 and the current building was erected after a fire in 1881. Through continuous use of the building and land, the meeting has a long history of service to the community. A center of the American Abolition Movement, the meeting took a strong stand for equality by admitting slaves and freed men into membership. Stephen Hopkins, Governor of Rhode Island and signer of the Declaration of Independence, was removed from the membership rolls for refusing to free his slaves.  Smithfield has an important place in the history of Rhode Island and NEYM, having remained a center of activism to this day.  Our meetinghouse, parsonage, and cemetery are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.