Buckingham Friends Meeting House facts for kids
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Buckingham Friends Meeting House
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Southern (front) and eastern sides
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 Location in Pennsylvania
Location in the United States
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| Location | 5684 Lower York Road (US Rte. 202), Buckingham Township, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
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| Area | 39 acres (16 ha) |
| Built | 1768 |
| Architect | Matthias Hutchinson, Arthur Edwin Bye |
| Architectural style | Georgian |
| NRHP reference No. | 97000291 (original) 03001034 (addition) |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | March 28, 1997 (original) July 31, 2003 (addition) |
| Designated NHL | July 31, 2003 |
The Buckingham Friends Meeting House is a really old and important building in Buckingham Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It's located at 5684 Lower York Road (U.S. Route 202). Built in 1768, it was designed in a special "doubled" style. This style became a model for many other Friends Meeting Houses built by Quakers later on. Because it's so important, it was named a National Historic Landmark in 2003.
Contents
History of the Meeting House
The first meeting house on this spot was built between 1705 and 1708. It was made from logs by English Quakers. These Quakers were some of the very first settlers in the area.
Later, a second meeting house was built using a wooden frame. The third building was made of stone around 1731. You can still find parts of these older buildings around the property. For example, there are stone blocks that people used to help them get onto their horses.
The Current Building and Its Design
The building you see today was finished in 1768. It was the first of its kind, known as a "doubled" meeting house. This design became the standard for Quaker meeting houses for the next 100 years.
Before this, most meeting houses were single rooms. They often had a partition, or movable wall, that could divide the room. This was used to separate men's and women's business meetings. Men and women would worship together but meet separately for business.
The Buckingham Meeting House has a new design. It has two equal-sized sections. This means it's symmetrical, with both sides looking the same.
With this new design, men and women would sit on separate sides of the partition for both worship and business meetings. The partition was only closed when they had their business meetings. Around this time, Quaker rules became more organized. This might have encouraged the two-cell design for meeting houses.
For example, if a Quaker married someone who was not a Quaker, they might no longer be part of the group. Since decisions about marriage were handled by the women's business meeting, their meeting became more important. This meant they needed more space.
Influence on Other Meeting Houses
The Buckingham Meeting House quickly became a model for others. Within a few years of its completion, other meeting houses started copying its "doubled" style. For instance, in New Jersey, at least five meeting houses were built in this style by 1788. Some groups even sent committees to visit Buckingham to see its design before building their own.
Quakers believe in simplicity. However, the Buckingham Meeting House has a Georgian architectural design. This style might show that the Quakers in Buckingham were quite wealthy for their time.
Buckingham Friends School
A stone schoolhouse was built to the east of the meeting house in 1798. This building is now the main part of the Buckingham Friends School.
See also
