Ye Olde Yardleyville Festival
Yardley Friends Meeting has been reaching out and engaging with the community!
Last year, Linda Jacobs Snyder, the clerk of the Outreach and Action Committee, worked with Commonplace Reader, a local bookstore, to offer Yardley Friends Meetinghouse for author and community events. This led to another connection with Gather Place Museum. Gather Place Museum is owned and operated by Shirley Lee Corsey. Shirley is an African American woman raised on the street where Gather Place sits. Gather Place started as an African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church built in 1877. It is dedicated to preserving history and celebrating culture.
America250PA coordinates the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the United States. The goal is to emphasize Pennsylvania’s role in founding the nation. Pa250 awarded the Gather Place a grant to help unveil forgotten aspects of Yardley Borough, Bucks County, Pennsylvania's Quaker founders, African American and women’s history.
Gather Place needed a bigger building to kick off this project. Yardley Friends Meeting opened its doors and joined the April 2025 celebration. It was encouraging to see Gather Place receive a grant. It also made Linda wonder. “What can we do to celebrate the Semiquincentennial?” Quakers are certainly part of the history of Pennsylvania!
Fostering community engagement was something both Gather Place and Yardley Friends Meeting strive to do. So, Linda set up a meeting with Shirley where she and another Friend, Mercy Ingraham, all met at the Gather Place. She said, “I think we should do something together to celebrate our history, but I don’t know what.” As a result of the visit, plans for Ye Olde Yardleyville Festival began.
On Saturday, May 30, Yardley Friends Meeting and Gather Place hosted an event that celebrated both Quaker and African American history in Yardley.
The afternoon began at the Meetinghouse. Guests read posters that talked of the history of Yardleyville, including the story of Yardley Friends Meeting, William and Thomas Yardley, Algernon Cadwallader, and ferries, bridges and floods. Historic reenactors walked among the crowd, sharing tidbits of the times. A Meeting member who is an expert of colonial foods talked of food history while offering colonial sweets and beverages. Everyone gathered in the worship room for a welcome from our Meeting, the Gather Place, the mayor and representatives of the area.
Guests could take a shuttle provided by Yardley Friends or walk through town to move on to the Gather Place. Historic characters welcomed everyone as they learned the history of the African American community of Yardley. A cultural dinner was served including chicken, fish fry, macaroni and cheese, collards and cornbread. A gentle breeze added to the peacefulness as new and old friends shared a meal in a tent.
After, Shirley led a walk along the canal pointing out documented and supposed stops on the underground railroad on the way back to the Meetinghouse. Those on the walk joined others at the Meetinghouse immersing themselves in more history. Thomas Yardley, Hannah Penn and Friends from the Meeting chatted. Gingerbread, bread pudding, pound cake and strawberries were served along with herbed tea, and shrub (beverages of colonial days).
The closing was the highlight of an already perfect day. Lucretia Mott and Frederick Douglass took the stage (as they did in 1850 at Newtown Hall) and gave lively, heartfelt and inspirational speeches.
Working together with Gather Place brought where we live in a clearer perspective. We need reminders today of the people who changed history so many years ago and the importance of keeping and building upon those changes.
A great gift is the knowledge that we aren’t just part of the Quaker community. We are part of the community around us.