Welcome to Bristol Friends Meetinghouse

Welcome to Bristol Friends Meetinghouse. . , Bristol Friends Meetinghouse, built between 1711 and 1713, is the oldest building in Bristol Borough. Built of brick, it survived the great fire of 1724 that destroyed most of the town's other earliest structures., English Quakers settled first Burlington and then Bristol at the end of the 17th century. Samuel Clift of Burlington was granted land including the site of Bristol by Gov. Edmond Andros of New York in 1681. The land grant marks the beginning of Bristol history. Clift was typical of the English Quakers seeking religious freedom and material prosperity in the New World. Twice jailed in England for his faith, he emigrated and settled in Burlington with the first Quaker colonists in 1677. By 1681 he had established a ferry from Burlington to the site of Bristol, close to the present-day King George II Inn., Bristol was thus a port before it was a town and grew up around the river port created by Clift's ferry., The site of Bristol was included in William Penn's first purchase of land from the Lenni Lenape people in 1682, months after he acquired Pennsylvania from the British Crown. Penn saw his colony as a Holy Experiment testing his Quaker beliefs in equality and religious liberty. In his 1701 Charter of Privileges he wrote, "no people can be truly happy, though under the greatest Enjoyment of Civil Liberties, if abridged of the Freedom of their Consciences, as to their Religious Profession and Worship.” In recent years Bristol Friends, in witness to their testimony of religious freedom and equality, have invited others of faith to share in use of the historic Meetinghouse., Following William Penn's dictum that "true godliness don't turn men out of the world but... excites their endeavours to mend it,” modern day Quakers engage in service and advocacy to address human suffering and injustice., One Quaker organization that works to further Penn's vision of the good society is the Friends Committee on National Legislation in Washington, D.C. FCNL lobbies Congress for laws that promote peace and the common good., [Bottom blue inset reads] , We seek a world , free of war and the threat of war , We seek a society , with equity and justice for all , We seek a community , where every person's potential may be fulfilled , We seek an earth restored, Friends Committee on National Legislation , Lobbying with Quakers