Cropwell Friends Meeting House - Marlton, NJ
N 39° 53.588 W 074° 56.190
18S E 505428 N 4415898
In 1785, Evesham's Quakers first bought three acres to build a school and later, a brick meetinghouse in 1809. This is the only tangible, non-residential link to the original Colonial Quaker settlements of Evesham Township.
Waymark Code: WM35EZ
Location: New Jersey, United States
Date Posted: 02/12/2008
Views: 61
Next year (2009) Marks 200 years for this structure and its congregates! Cropwell Friends Meeting House, which is still a church, was typical (and still is) of old rural Quaker meetinghouses.
There are currently 25 members.
Meeting House Phone Number (856) 424-1403
Clerk: Deborah A. Saunders. You may contact her at (856) 435-1645.
Assistant Clerk: Jennifer Suri.
Meeting for Worship: 10:00 AM Sunday - followed by coffee and conversation
Business Meeting: First Sunday of each month
Adult Ed: Third Sunday of each month
I have lived about a mile from this historic place for the last 40 years. I have seen road expansions, neighborhoods built, business expand, traffic lights installed and local populations explode, all about the meeting house. Despite all of this, Cropwell Friends Meeting House has remained unchanged, a permanent fixture in a changing world and a testament to simplicity, peace, equality and community.
Cemetery:
There is an extremely old burial ground located on the property of Cropwell Friends Meeting House. The markers & memorial stones are located facing Cropwell Road at the intersection of Old Marlton Pike and Cropwell Roads.
Some sources have this cemetery also listed as Cropwell Friends Burial Ground. Members of the Meeting used both interchangeably. I spent about an hour Thanksgiving morning cataloging and counting burial markers and stones. I counted 463 total graves. Included in this total are combination graves sharing one memorial stone. I noticed the most common family names are those of the founding fathers of our community and of local establishments, streets and public schools. The most common name was Cooper. Other names which appear with equal regularity are Barton, Stokes, Lippincott, Parvin, Evans/Evens, Ballinger, Gardiner & Sharpless.
Some of the grave markers are nothing more than a rectangular-like stone/rock shoved in the ground. Some names are forever lost to time. Family names are buried together and if you take the time to notice, you can figure out the lineage and who married to begin a new family lineage. The newest grave I found was from 2006. The oldest I found I believe was from 1815, but it was hard to tell for sure. I am certain that several persons in the cemetery were definitely born in the late 18th century...so cool!
I remember some controversy in the early 80s when the road had to be widened to accommodate the growing population of Cherry Hill and Marlton. Parts of the Meeting House had to be taken and turned into pavement. This is why some of the graves are a mere two to three feet from the road. At this time, the fence was rebuilt as it appears today and a light was installed at the intersection.
Web Address: [Web Link]
Physical Address:
802 S. Cropwell Road
Evesham Twp., NJ USA
08053
Hours of Worship: 10:00 AM
Year Built: 1808/01/01
Still in Use?: Yes, Every Sunday
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