Join Sacred Sites Open House cosponsor Queens Historical Society on a tour led by urban geographer Jack Eichenbaum. Flushing is the site of North America’s first proclamation of religious freedom: the Flushing Remonstrance of 1657, and the oldest extant house of worship in New York State: the Quaker Meeting House of 1694, where our tour will begin. The area hosts many new churches, temples, and mosques due to both a surge in the needs of contemporary immigrants and the availability of sizable plots of land in once-elite residential areas. We’ll discuss the ecological and economic issues engendered by the new houses of worship as well as the future of historic religious institutions.

Tour will convene Sunday, May 19th, 12:00 pm, with interior tour of Flushing Quaker Meeting House, 137-16 Northern Boulevard (10 minute walk from the Main Street stop of the #7 train and LIRR or a short walk from the Main Street/Northern Boulevard stop of the Q19, 66, 65, 25, 20A, 20B buses). Tour will close at 2:30 pm with interior tour of mid-century modern-Gothic, 1960, St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church. En route, we will pass by a number of remarkable new and older houses of worship from tiny storefront churches to the elaborate Korean Buddhist temple, Mormon Church, Sikh Temple, and modern synagogue, Temple Gates of Prayer (1977-1979).