FUN FACTS
Bellefonte’s earliest Quakers were members of the Valentine family and the family of William Ashbridge Thomas, who together purchased and expanded the largest Centre County iron works.
The Valentines and Thomas were strong anti-slavery advocates. Their employees included large numbers of African Americans, they donated land for the Bellefonte A.M.E. church, and they were involved in the Underground Railroad.
At mid-century the city of Bellefonte had one of the largest percentages of African-American residents in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
In 1832 Bellefonte Friends built their meetinghouse on land provided by the Valentines and Thomas. It was a stone building located on present-day Stony Batter Street and today serves as the home of the Knights of Columbus.
On other Valentine/Thomas land three blocks up the hill on Spring Street Friends established their cemetery. Thanks to a Trust established in the will of a member of the Valentine family the stone-walled cemetery has been maintained since the meeting’s decline in the early twentieth century. However, a collapsed wall is at present a concern.
At the time of the Quaker split into two branches in 1828 Bellefonte Friends affiliated with the Orthodox Baltimore Yearly Meeting, whereas the Halfmoon and Bald Eagle/Unionville meetings were part of the Hicksite Baltimore Yearly Meeting.
To read more about both the Bellefonte Friends Meeting (Chapter Six) and the Halfmoon Friends Cemetery (Chapter Seven) click on this link to
D. Douglas Miller: Quakers in Centre County, Pennsylvania.