"Among the companions of the founder of Pennsylvania, when he arrived on the shores of the Delaware, in the year 1682, were a large number of Welsh people of great respectability and substance. These excellent persons, before they left their native country, had purchased of the proprietary several thousand acres of land on the western side of the Schuylkill, about six miles from the spot fixed upon for the city of Philadelphia; and this tract was called Merioneth, in honour of their birth-place."
The Merion Monthly Meeting of Friends,(Quakers), began in 1682 upon the arrival of the first boatload of Welsh families fleeing persecution for their non-conformist worship in Wales. Edward Jones, son-in-law of Dr. Thomas Wynne, Quaker physician and friend of William Penn led them.
In 1695 the now thriving community in "Merion," named in honor of their Welsh Merionethshire, built a stone meeting house. It stood on a well-used path linking the Welsh farms to Philadelphia. Tradition says William Penn visited and preached here. In the loft above the meeting room, a school was held for girls and boys, including Indian children.
The meeting house was enlarged in 1714.
The Merion Friends Meetinghouse is a National Historic Landmark and one of the oldest extant examples of early Quaker architecture in the country.
Merion Meetinghouse has been in continuous use for over three hundred years.
This information is from the Merion Monthly Meeting Homepage.
Below is a picture of the Meeting house as it looks today.
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