Historic Quaker Houses of Bucks County, PA
The ca. 1830 Caretaker’s House
At Solebury Friends Meetinghouse:
Above: Solebury Friends opened a grammar school across the road from the Solebury Friends meetinghouse near New Hope. This little three-bay building was built ca. 1830 for use as the schoolhouse. Known as the Solebury Meeting Auxiliary School, or Blackfan’s School, it was eventually taken over by the township and continued in use until 1898. Today the building is a residence for the meeting’s caretaker. Image source: Lee J. Stoltzfus.
Solebury Friends Meetinghouse:
Above: Solebury Friends Meetinghouse sits quietly in a bucolic setting. Members of Buckingham Meeting founded Solebury Meeting in 1806. The site is pastoral and peaceful, seemingly removed from the conflicts of the outside world. Image source: Lee J. Stoltzfus.
Solebury Friends Meetinghouse in Spring:
Above: Dogwoods are in full flower beside the sandstone Solebury Meetinghouse. Image source: Lee J. Stoltzfus.
Stockton Sandstone of Solebury Township
A Signature Building Stone:
The tan and brown sandstone of the Stockton Formation is a defining building stone of Bucks County. The warm hues of this sandstone appear in countless historic buildings across the hills and valleys of central Bucks County.
Although limestone also occurs in this part of Solebury Township, the local limestone was not generally an ideal building stone, often being too fractured or jointed to yield regular blocks for construction purposes.
This map reveals that the historic houses restored by the three leading artists of the New Hope School are also constructed with Stockton Sandstone.
Image source: Geology and Mineral Resources of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Geological Survey, 1959, NGMDB.
Stockton Sandstone
Solebury Friends Meetinghouse:
Stockton Sandstone, Roughly Squared
Front Elevation of the Meetinghouse
Sandstone Quoins
Corners of the Meetinghouse
Sandstone, Argillite, Limestone
Fieldstone Wall at Graveyard
Above: Solebury Friends Meetinghouse is a showcase of historic Bucks County masonry using Stockton Sandstone. Image source: Lee J. Stoltzfus.
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