Hockessin Friends Meetinghouse

Hockessin Friends Meetinghouse. . The Hockessin Friends Meeting has operated with an active membership and regular services, known as Meetings for Worship, since its founding. The Meeting is part of the larger Philadelphia Yearly Meeting faith community., The expansion of the Religious Society of Friends in the Mill Creek Hundred during the 1730s spurred the organization of the Hockessin Friends Meeting. Members in this area who previously attended the Centre Monthly Meeting wanted to establish a place of worship closer to their homes. Early meetings were held in the home of William Cox until two tracts of land were acquired in 1737 for a burial ground and construction of a meetinghouse. The one-story fieldstone building was constructed in 1738 and later enlarged with a side addition in 1745. As one of the only established houses of worship in colonial Hockessin, the meetinghouse became the center of social and religious life in the community. In addition, it is believed that the meetinghouse operated the only school in the Hockessin area during the late 1700s and early 1800s. The meetinghouse played a brief role in the American Revolution on the night of September 9, 1777 when British troops under the command of Lord Cornwallis stopped to camp here enroute to the Battle of the Brandywine., The meetinghouse was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.