Join us Sunday, June 21st at one of historic meetinghouse sites – Washington Cemetery. While the meetinghouse is no longer there, the property is still a beautiful location to hold an outdoor worship service. It is the first of three church services which we will hold outdoors through September. All unique and all very special. Worship begins at 10:15 a.m. with preludes by the Suite Brass – a quintet of trumpet, horn, trombone and tuba. Please bring lawn chairs to sit on, umbrellas or hats to cover your heads from the sunshine in the event there isn’t enough shade and flat shoes due to uneven surfaces. We look forward to you join us!
Washington Cemetery is located at 2107 County LIne Road, East Greenville, PA (intersection of Kutztown & County Line Roads).
The original Schwenkfelder immigrants hoped to find a large tract of land in Pennsylvania where they could live as a group. Since no such plot was available, the family groups scattered. The northernmost group settled in Lehigh, Berks and northern Montgomery Counties. This became known as the “Upper District.” Located in the Upper Perkiomen Valley, Schwenkfelders of the Upper District assembled in homes for worship, prayer and Bible study. Eventually three meeting houses were built – Washington, Hosensack and Kraussdale – to accommodate the growing number of worshippers. Washington, the second meeting house to be built, was erected in 1791 near the village of Clayton in Washington Township, Berks County.
The original Schwenkfelder landowners were the three Schultz brothers: George, Melchior, and Christopher. Later ownership was vested in the youngest, Christopher. His homestead was located nearby, along Kutztown Road, on the far side of the street, where a large home still stands.
Upon Christopher’s death in 1788, his son David inherited the land immediately adjoining the cemetery. The meeting house was erected on this land, along with some additional land adjacent to the property, owned by Jeremiah and Morris Schultz, also descendants of Christopher. The first worship service was held here on the Day of Remembrance, September 24, 1791, at which time Rev. Christopher Kriebel delivered the dedicatory address.
The location was used as a neighborhood cemetery for some time prior to the construction of the meeting house, as the grave of Anna Schultz, buried in 1742, testifies. Anna was the first wife of Melchior Schultz, and died at a young age.
Thirty Schwenkfelder immigrants are buried here. Their names are commemorated on a large granite monument. All three Schultz brothers and their wives are buried here. Christopher’s original tombstone was later replaced, by his descendants, with one in a more modern style. A stone wall was built around the burial plot in 1810.
The graves in the Washington, Kraussdale and Yeakel family cemeteries are aligned in the direction of due East. It was expected that Jesus’ second coming would take place in Jerusalem, so the graves were faced toward the East in order to meet Him when He comes. According to 1 Thessalonians 4:16, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangels’ call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.”
The original building was replaced with a new meeting house in 1824 amid protests from some who thought it sacrilegious to destroy the old building. A school was established in the meeting house in 1834. In 1883 the Washington Meetinghouse was entirely remodeled and was in constant use for the next twenty-eight years.
By the turn of the Twentieth Century it became necessary to acquire more space for the growing Sunday school classes, and so the congregations of the three meeting houses voted to merge, and construct a church. The special congregational meeting called by the Upper District to build Palm Schwenkfelder Church was held at this site. The main inside timbers of the Palm Schwenkfelder Church were cut from trees which formerly stood in the yard of the Washington Meetinghouse.
The Washington Meetinghouse was demolished after the completion of Palm Schwenkfelder Church in 1911. The stones from the walls of the building were used to enclose the entire plot. A granite marker was placed on the spot where the pulpit formerly stood. Inscribed on one face of the marker is a quotation from Caspar Schwenckfeld in German: “WENN ICH CHRISTUM HABE BIN ICH NICHT TRAURIG” – in English: “When I have Christ I am not sad.” At the foot of the marker it reads: Erected 1917. GOTT ALLEIN DIE EHRE – in English: “[to] God Alone the Honor,” or “Glory to God Alone.”