Photos

As I sit here at my desk the temperature outside is 72 degrees (22 degrees Celsius) and the sun is shining. My mind drifted back to a gloomy day we had back in January. The temperature wasn't all that cold and a fog rolled into the area in the mid afternoon. I was home and when I looked out the window I saw that it was a perfect day to go out and take pictures! So what was my first stop? A cemetery!

This is the Solebury Friends Quaker Cemetery. The Religious Society of Friends, also known as Quakers, was founded in England in the 17th Century by people wanting to break away from from Puritanism. The Quaker religious service differs from traditional Christian church services in that there is no pastor or minister presiding over the service. Nor is there any music. It is referred to as a "meeting for worship" where members sit in silence/prayer and speak when the spirit moves them. A meeting for worship is not held in a church, but a meetinghouse.

As the movement expanded, people were persecuted.

The state of Pennsylvania, which was founded by William Penn (a Quaker) in the 17th century was considered a safe haven for them and many of them fled there in the 17th and 18th centuries. Many of Solebury Township's early settlers were Quakers. As more Quakers moved into Pennsylvania more meetinghouses were needed. The one in Solebury Township dates back to 1806.

The Testimony of Equality is the Quaker belief that all people are created equal in the eyes of God. Nowhere is this more evident than in this little cemetery with small, simple headstones.