Newtown Heritage Walk No. 5

Newtown Friends Meeting is an active place of worship for approximately 250 area Quakers. Newtown Meeting was co-founded by Quaker minister, sign painter and folk artist Edward Hicks, now highly acclaimed for his renditions of The Peaceable Kingdom. In 1815, Hicks gathered nearby Friends (Quakers) to meet in the empty Court House on Court Street after the county seat moved to Doylestown in 1813. Previously, these local Friends, members of either Falls, Middletown, or Wrightstown Meetings, had to travel considerable distances to worship.

In 1817, the main part of the meetinghouse was built on a two-acre lot bought from Dr. Phineas Jenks for $60. Several modest additions have been made since then: the horse sheds in 1819, the portico on the south side in 1868, the addition for classrooms and expanded worship space in 1900, and the addition in 1956 of more classrooms. In 2004, an expansion added classrooms upstairs and a new Gathering Room on the main floor where several full-size reproductions of Hicks' paintings are displayed.

Newtown Meeting is an excellent example of a 19th century Quaker meetinghouse. Devoid of any but the simplest decoration, the meetinghouse shows the clean and uncomplicated style favored by Quakers. The original meetinghouse has had few structural changes and still utilizes most of the original hardward and furnishings. The meetinghouse, horse shed, and burial ground offer a fine example of a 19th century religious complex so important in the life of its members. Hicks' grave, with the low headstone favored by Friends, is located across from the south porch of the meetinghouse.

Newtown Friends Meeting continues today in the tradition of early Friends - meeting in silence for worship, believing there is that of God in every person, and striving for lives characterized by simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship.

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Show me all markers in:  Newtown, PA  |  Bucks County  |  18940  |  Pennsylvania  |  United States of America

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