Octoraro Friends Meeting

An indulged meeting was established in 1823 for the convenience of West Nottingham Friends who lived in the area. A log meetignhouse was built soon after. Levi Brown described it as follows:

Octoraro Meeting. A branch of West Nottingham Preparative meeting, is situated in Cecil County, Maryland, four miles west of West Nottingham, three miles from Conowingo Bridge, and three miles north of Rowlandsville, on the Philadlephia and Baltimore Central Railroad. The meeting was established in fifth month, 1823, to accomodate some families who resided north of the Octoraro Creek. In 1870 there were seven familes and parts of families, in all 29 members.

The meeting became inactive in the latter part of the 1800's but in 1911 a small frame building was erected on the site by some local parties whose ancestors had worshipped there. When Thomas Chalklley Matlack visited the site in 1933, teh small chapel was still standing.

As this is one of the few meeting houses in the area that I have not visited yet, I can only recount what I have heard from others. Apparently, the meeting house itself sat at the back of the property and the small burail ground lay to the front of the house. I visited the area last fall and was able to see where an access road existed along the frontage on Ragan Road but it was heavily overgrown and I was unable to view the site. Several burials are known to have occurred there, mostly of the Preston family who were active members.