Quakers in Michigan are invited to Kalamazoo on Saturday, September 21, for the Fall Meeting of Green Pastures Quarterly Meeting.  There will be a business session in the morning at the Kalamazoo Friends Meeting, followed by a picnic lunch and tour of a house that was once on the route of the Underground Railroad in nearby Schoolcraft, Michigan.  Feel free to share this with your meeting.

That same weekend the Kalamazoo Meeting is celebrating its 70th anniversary on Sunday, Sept. 22.  Friends who wish to stay for that celebration can reach out to Linda Mills to request hospitality with Friends.

GPQM Fall Meeting Schedule:

10:00 am           Worship, Kalamazoo Friends Meeting, 508 Denner St., Kalamazoo MI  49006

10:30-Noon      Business Meeting

12-12:30 pm     Travel to Dr. Nathan Thomas House, 613 E. Cass St., Schoolcraft MI 49087

12:30 pm           Picnic Lunch:  Bring your own basket

1:30 pm              Program on the Underground Railroad in this part of Michigan and the role of the Thomas House (led by members of the Schoolcraft Historical Society and Kalamazoo Friends Meeting)

More about Schoolcraft and the Thomas House:

Schoolcraft is a small town about 15 miles south of Kalamazoo Meeting, on Rt. 131.  The home of Dr. Nathan Thomas served as a “station” on the Underground Railroad. Dr. Thomas, the first doctor in Kalamazoo County and a Quaker who avidly supported and led abolitionist efforts in Michigan, first built the house in 1835 on the corner of Cass St. and Centre St. Between 1840 and 1860, it is estimated that Dr. Thomas and his wife Pamela Brown Thomas sheltered between 1,000 and 1,500 fugitive slaves on their way to Canada.  Dr. Thomas built a new house in 1868 and the original house was moved to its present site on Cass St. east of U.S. Route 131. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places

In Light and Love,

Peggy Daub, Communications Coordinator, Green Pastures Quarterly Meeting