Brick Meeting House

Cemetery side of Brick Meeting House	Other side of Brick Meeting House
Historical Marker for "The Brick"	Oak Tree dated 1661 - 100' from "The Brick"
Brick Meeting House lower level	Anna Churchman and Ed Plumstead
Upstairs at the Brick Meeting House	Benches built in 1752

• Notes: The first meeting house in the Nottingham settlement was built about 1706. Part of the present building, East Nottingham Meeting House, known locally as "The Brick", dates from 1724. The Brick Meeting House is located at Calvert, Maryland, about five miles east of Rising Sun and five miles south of Oxford, Pennsylvania. In 1701 William Penn told his companions that he "Then and there set apart and dedicated forty acres of land to them and their successors forever, for the combined purpose of public worship, the right of burial, and privilege of education". This verbal declaration of Penn was the only title by which Friends held East Nottingham Meeting House until 1765, when they were given a deed by John and Thomas Penn. William Churchman (b. 1/29/1721) was a trustee of Brick Meeting House at this time, so his name is on the document.
  
  The cemetery partially surrounds the Church. Next to the Church, where John and Hannah Churchman are buried, there are no markers of any kind -- then there is a half circle where small field stones mark the graves -- then small stones with inscriptions, and the later markers look like any other cemetery.
  
  Pictures of the inside of the Brick Meeting House were taken by Everett Churchman on October, 2000. Mr. Ed Plumstead is the curator of "The Brick" Cemetery (Quaker portion). Panels in the center of the lower level move up and down. When services are held, men sit on one side and women sit on the other. Panels are adjustable for how they want the building configured to accommodate the current function. The benches on the lower level were built in 1810. The benches on the upper level were built in 1752.

Sources:

1. Pictures contributed by Martha Dunn
2. Research by Charles R. Churchman, author of "Churchmans of Kentucky"
3. Pictures contributed by Everett L. and Anna Churchman

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