Radnor Meeting House
Radnor Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
A center of Friends' activities since 1686. The second house, built about 1721, served as an officers' house and a hospital for the Valley Forge encampment.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Quakers — the Society of Friends — have gathered on this ground since 1686, only a few years after Pennsylvania's founding, making Radnor Meeting one of the oldest Friends communities in the region. The stone meetinghouse standing from about 1721 saw its quiet worship interrupted by war: during the brutal winter of 1777–78, when Washington's army lay at nearby Valley Forge, the building served as an officers' quarters and a hospital for the sick and wounded. It is a place where two strands of Pennsylvania's identity — Quaker pacifism and Revolutionary sacrifice — met under one roof.
Why it matters
Radnor Meeting House ties the founding Quaker settlement of Penn's colony directly to the suffering of the Continental Army at Valley Forge, embodying Pennsylvania's dual heritage of faith and revolution.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- African American Museum in Philadelphia12.4 mi away · 701 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Bridgette Mayer12.5 mi away · 709 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- National Constitution Center12.6 mi away · 525 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Independence Visitor Center12.6 mi away · 599 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Liberty Bell Center12.6 mi away · 526 Market Street, Philadelphia
- Congress Hall12.6 mi away · Philadelphia, PA
Attractions
- American Bandstand9.4 mi away
- Discovery Center at East Park Reservoir9.6 mi away
- Pennsylvania Railroad, Connecting Railway Bridge9.7 mi away
- Philadelphia Zoo9.8 mi away
- Rocky Steps10.7 mi away
- The Universal Sphere11.5 mi away
Food & drink
- Burger King12.4 mi away
- Philly Pretzel Factory12.5 mi away
- Munchie’s Cafe12.5 mi away · 728 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- El Azteca12.5 mi away
- Park’s Salad Bar12.5 mi away
- Dunkin'12.5 mi away · 634 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
Places to stay
- Days Inn Philadelphia Convention Center - Philadelphia11.9 mi away · 1227 Race Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Residence Inn Philadelphia Center City12.0 mi away · 1 East Penn Square, Philadelphia, PA
- The Notary Hotel12.0 mi away · 21 North Juniper Street, Philadelphia
- Four Points by Sheraton Philadelphia City Center12.0 mi away · 1201 Race Street, Philadelphia
- Cambria Hotel Philadelphia Downtown - Center City12.0 mi away · 219 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA
- DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Philadelphia Center City12.0 mi away · 237 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA
Places data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change — call ahead.
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Related events
- · Valley Forge encampment
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
St. David's Church
Radnor Township, PA · est. 1947
Built in 1715 by Welsh Episcopalians who had come to Penn's colony in search of land and religious freedom, St. David's Church became one of the enduring landmarks of Pennsylvania's "Welsh Tract." Its weathered stones and quiet churchyard so moved Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that he immortalized the place in verse. The churchyard is also the final resting place of General "Mad" Anthony Wayne, the fiery Revolutionary War commander whose remains were carried here from Erie in 1809, years after his death.
Harriton
Lower Merion Township, PA · est. 1947
This early Georgian house went up in 1704, when the Welsh Quaker settlements of the Philadelphia countryside were barely a generation old, and later took its name from owner Richard Harrison. Its most consequential resident arrived in 1774: Charles Thomson, who would serve as Secretary of the Continental Congress through the entire Revolution, keeping the young nation's official records. He lived out his long retirement here until 1824, a founding-era figure quietly farming outside Philadelphia.
Liberty Tree
Upper Merion Township, PA
In the tense years before the Revolution, colonists across the thirteen colonies singled out great elms and other spreading trees as "Liberty Trees" — public gathering places where the Sons of Liberty rallied crowds against British rule. The tradition began with Boston's famous elm during the 1765 Stamp Act protests, where colonists hung effigies of royal officials from its branches, and the idea spread from town to town. Beneath these trees, ordinary people met, argued, and organized, turning a living landmark into a shared symbol of resistance. A memorial like this one in Upper Merion keeps that tradition of the patriot "tree of liberty" rooted in local memory.
Edward Hector
Conshohocken, PA · est. 1976
Edward Hector served as a private in the Continental artillery and fought at the Battle of Brandywine in 1777, one of the largest engagements of the Revolutionary War. He made his home in what is now Conshohocken. His marker honors him as a stand-in for the many Black soldiers whose service filled the Continental ranks but whose race went unrecorded in the muster rolls.