One Red Rose - Caspar Wistar PLAQUE
Jackson Township, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
One red rose is annually paid by Trinity Reformed Church to the heirs of Casper Wistar, of Philadelphia, who in 1738 gave one hundred acres of land for church purposes. The congregation was formed by Reformed families among the Tulpehocken settlers. The first communion service was conducted by Reverend John Phillip Boehm, Oct. 18, 1727.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
In 1738 Philadelphia glassmaker Caspar Wistar gave one hundred acres to a congregation of German Reformed families among the Tulpehocken settlers, asking in return only one red rose paid each year. That symbolic rent is still honored by Trinity Reformed Church, a living link to the region's colonial German community. The congregation's roots reached back to 1727, when Reverend John Philip Boehm led its first communion service.
Why it matters
The story preserves the world of Pennsylvania's early German immigrants, whose churches and customs helped shape the colony's enduring religious and cultural diversity.
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Related people
- · Caspar Wistar
- · John Philip Boehm
Related events
- · Founding of Trinity Reformed Church, 1727
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Tulpehocken Evangelical and Reformed Church
Jackson Township, PA · est. 1954
German-speaking settlers of the Tulpehocken Valley organized this congregation in 1727, part of the wave of Palatine immigrants who put down roots in colonial Pennsylvania. When merchant Caspar Wistar granted land for their second house of worship, he asked in return a single red rose paid each year — a quaint "quit-rent" the church has honored ever since, answered since 1902 by a white rose given back to Wistar's descendants.
Fort Zeller
Millcreek Township, PA · est. 1947
Half a mile north stands Fort Zeller, reckoned the oldest surviving fort in Pennsylvania. It was built in 1723 by Palatine German pioneers who had migrated from New York's Schoharie Valley to settle the Tulpehocken country, and rebuilt in 1745. In dangerous years it served as a fortified refuge for frontier families during clashes with Native peoples.
Jacob Albright
Heidelberg Township, PA · est. 1967
Jacob Albright, the son of German immigrants, grew up among the hardworking farm families of eastern Pennsylvania and turned to preaching in their own language after a season of personal grief. He founded the Evangelical Association, a revivalist movement that ministered to German-speaking country folk, and later rose to prominence in the broader Methodist tradition. He is buried nearby at Albright Memorial Church.
Christ Little Tulpehocken Church
Jefferson Township, PA · est. 1963
Organized in 1729, this is one of the earliest Lutheran congregations in the region, gathered among the German settlers of the Tulpehocken valley by the traveling missionary Rev. John Caspar Stoever, Jr., who began its parish records in 1730. An early log meetinghouse gave way in 1809 to the present stone church. Since 1853 it has been shared as a union church by Lutheran and Reformed worshippers.