1794 Meetinghouse

The 1794 Meetinghouse is a nonprofit performing arts center located in the heart of historic New Salem, Massachusetts. Built in 1794, the building was originally a Congregational Meetinghouse. It has served many purposes, as the location for town meetings, community events, community performances including original plays written by a local playwright, fundraising, and for a long period of time it sat unused and in disrepair. Then the idea of the performing arts center became a reality and the nonprofit was formed with a two-fold mission - to save and maintain the historic building and to deliver high-quality performances to the North Quabbin area.

Since 1994, the Meetinghouse has brought a diversity of performers to the local communities and beyond. The building does not have heat or plumbing. We host a diversity of musical styles to provide a wide variety of choices for our viewing audience. Performers from all over love coming to the Meetinghouse because of the beautiful acoustics of the hall, something we attribute that to the original barrel ceiling and the horsehair plaster that is on the walls. Some of our performers have returned to produce recordings in the hall because of those excellent acoustics.