Quakers and the American Revolution:
Fallsington Friends Take to Arms, 1775
Sunday, September 18, 2022 at 2 pm
At the Trent House Visitor Center and via Zoom
The village of Fallsington, across the Delaware River from Trenton, is one of the earliest settlements in Pennsylvania. In 1682, William Penn arrived in the colonies to set up a “Holy Experiment” in liberty, peace, and equality and established his country home at Pennsbury, three miles from Fallsington. In 1683 settlers in the area met near the falls to establish a monthly Society of Friends meeting for worship, which Penn attended when he was in the colonies. The community grew with mills, ferries, and wharves and the first meeting house was replaced in 1728 with a larger one that still stands today. By the 1770s support for independence from British rule was growing and soon revolution was on the doorsteps of this Quaker community.
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Kimberly Praria, executive director of Historic Fallsington, Inc., will round out the Trent House Museum’s Summer of Revolution program series with an exploration of how Quaker men living in the village of Fallsington responded to the call for war against the British. Contrary to Quaker principles, some men of the village joined the Continental Army during the Revolution. During her talk, Ms. Praria will consider such questions as what compelled these men to go against their faith and fight in a war, and were they alone or did other Philadelphia area Friends take to arms as well. Hear her in-person at the Trent House Visitor Center or via Zoom at https://tinyurl.com/Sept18Talk. There is plenty of free parking behind the Trent House, which is located at 15 Market Street, Trenton, across from the Hughes Justice Complex. A pay-as-you-wish donation is encouraged and can be made by PayPal at https://williamtrenthouse.org/donation.html. |
