Welcome to the Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation.
Our mission is to fully restore this treasured building, an architectural masterpiece built for the first Universalist Church in America in 1806, to the highest preservation and clean-energy standards so that it may continue to serve our community for centuries to come.
The Meetinghouse is a civic hub hosting symposiums with experts on contemporary concerns for open discussion, offers an unparalleled, large entertainment venue with over 300 seats in world-class acoustics, and provides a delightful outdoor gathering place for unique programs like Music on Meetinghouse Green, which supports local non-profits, musicians and food vendors.
Membership donations at any level help us to preserve this magnificent, Federal-style building, recognized on the National Register of Historic Places, and to offer outstanding programming on Cape Ann throughout the year.
This year, the Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation celebrates its seventh anniversary. Please support our work through the annual appeal as a new or renewing member today.
The Gloucester Meetinghouse is an architectural treasure in the heart of Gloucester’s Historic District with a great story to tell. The Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation was created as a secular non-profit organization in 2015, separate from the Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church, and modeled after the Old North Foundation in relation to Boston’s famous Old North Church. The GMF manages large-scale preservation projects for the landmark building now entering its third century of service to residents and visitors to Cape Ann. The GMF presents an annual selection of concerts, events, and symposia designed to engage and inspire. Seeking to combine the best of preservation and “green” building practices, the Meetinghouse is proud to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places and, in collaboration with its clean-energy initiative TownGreen2025 and Reforest the Tropics, is one of the first historic buildings in New England to be carbon-neutral.