I just got back from a trip to (mostly) New England and Canada; one stop was in Rhode Island at Touro Synagoge, built 1763, making it the oldest standing synagogue in the United States. The congregation there actually first met in 1658.
Above: the mezuzah at the entrance
The architect Peter Harrison who was a Newport resident started as a sea captain and was active in the rum trade, which was a huge part of Newport’s commerce at that time. He also designed in Newport the Redwood Library (1748–49), Touro Synagogue (1759–63), and Brick Market (c. 1760). Elsewhere, there’s Christ Church in Cambridge (1761) and King’s Chapel in Boston (1749–54).
I’m a big Roosevelt fan and that includes both TR and FDR and Eleanor, especially Eleanor! — I’ve visited Christ Church in Cambridge where TR was a Sunday School teacher while attending Harvard and that post is here.
Featured prominently in the tour is the letter George Washington wrote to the congregation in August 1790, and is read aloud at Touro in commemoration yearly each third Sunday of August.
In part:
It would be inconsistent with the frankness of my character not to avow that I am pleased with your favorable opinion of my Administration, and fervent wishes for my felicity. May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy.
Touro serves as a museum and is a National Historic Site of the National Park Service, the Orthodox congregation (different from the original as there was a lengthy break in meetings and the makeup of the membership changed) conducts services weekly and on holidays.
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