Eastland Friends Meetinghouse (Quaker)
Little Britain, Lancaster County, PA
Built in 1803
Above: Eastland Quaker Meetinghouse in Lancaster County, PA. Schist building stone with roof of Peach Bottom slate.
A Remarkable Survivor:
The Meetinghouse Horse Shed
With Peach Bottom Slate:
Above: The horse shed at Eastland Friends Meetinghouse
Peach Bottom Slate
1851: The World’s Best Roofing Slate
Award at London’s Crystal Palace Expo:
This meetinghouse and its horse shed are roofed with Peach Bottom slate. This dark slate is a major claim to architecture fame for southern Lancaster County and southern York County. For generations many experts have considered this slate to be the best in the world. Peach Bottom slate was exhibited at the 1851 Crystal Palace Expo in London, where it was awarded the highest possible prize as the best roofing slate then known.
Beautifully Crafted Stonework:
Schist Building Stone
With Beaded Mortar Joints:
Above: Front facade of the meetinghouse
Above: Front facade of the meetinghouse
History in Churches and Cemeteries
of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania:
Eastland Friends Meetinghouse
1796 - Eastland Indulged Meeting began meeting in a log house on present site.
1803 - Eastland Preparative Meeting set up. Present stone meetinghouse built and cemetery laid out.
1827 - During Orthodox / Hicksite split in society, this meeting was aligned with the Hicksite group.
Source: Churches and Cemeteries of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, A. Hunter Rineer, 1993, page 384, LancasterHistory.
Above: The meetinghouse horse shed with Peach Bottom slate roof.
Above: The horse shed
The Local Building Stone:
Peters Creek Schist and Peach Bottom Slate:
Above: Geologic Map of Pennsylvania, by Berg, Edmonds, Geyer, etc., 1980. (Icon added) PaGEODE describes this bedrock and building stone further. “The Peters Creek Schist consists of fine-grained, finely laminated, chlorite-sericite (mica) schist containing numerous thin beds of quartzite. The quartzitic layers are interleaved with layers of mica. Its banding is thin and steeply dipping in most places, and it is estimated to be 2,000 feet thick (Geyer and Wilshusen, 1982).”
Above: Image source: Friends Meeting Houses, T. C. Matlack, ca. 1934, TriCollege Libraries
Above: Peach Bottom slate and walls of local schist building stone.
Another Survivor:
The “Upping Block”
For Mounting Horses or Carriages:
Above: A stone horse block (upping block) survives beside the meetinghouse. It was used to step up when mounting a horse or carriage.
Above: An 1847 grave marker for A. W., inscribed in Peach Bottom slate.
A Vintage Photo of Eastland - Little Britain:
Above: Eastland - Little Britain. Image source: TriCollege Libraries, Watson W. Dewees, Date unknown.
Above: Sign on the Eastland horse shed
Description in Our Present Past (1985)
By the Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County:
“Eastland Friends Meetinghouse, Friends Road, northeast corner at Kirk’s Mills Road; 1803; one and one-half story, six bay stone meetinghouse type church; 1803 datestone; two recessed entries with transoms, quoins; closed shutters; horse shed with stone foundation; center of local religious activity throughout 1800s”, Our Present Past, page 203, Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County.