Old Kennett Meeting House, U.S. Route 1, 1 mile North of Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, Chester County, PA

1997 Charles E. Peterson Prize, Honorable Mention
Significance: Old Kennett is one of the oldest extant Friends meeting houses in the Delaware Valley, erected sometime between 1718 and 1731. Its single-cell, central-entry exterior form was typical of the meeting house plans of the early settlement period. At some later date, however, the window and doorway openings and roof structure were altered, and the interior of the meeting house was re-configured in order to support the equally sized apartments for men's and women's business that was indicative of the "doubled" or two-cell form that became the standard for meeting house design in the Delaware Valley by the late eighteenth century. Among the evidence for the relocation of the partition is its somewhat awkward mounting on the post that separates its two doors of the front entry. This and other modifications were made in the effort to adapt an earlier building to the changing American Friends Program. Despite some reconfiguration of the meeting house, it is of exceptional overall integrity and includes many noteworthy eighteenth-century features of Quaker meeting house architecture including pegged floors, paneled partitions, facing benches, and simple turned posts and carved newels. The structure has been largely unused for the past century and remains in rustic condition, without central heating, plumbing or electricity.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N334
Survey number: HABS PA-6230
Building/structure dates: ca. 1718- ca. 1731 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1927 Subsequent Work