Blog of the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office

Tag: Lower Makefield Township Historical Commission

Celebrating Preservation Success Stories with Community Initiative Awards

Earlier this week my Alexa reminded me that there are 100 days until the end of the year.  After a moment of shock, my brain started its mental cataloguing of all the things that I have to do before December 31. Deadlines, appointments, holidays, the list goes on…

One reminder I’d like to put on your to-do list before the year is out is to tell us about a preservation success story in your community. Each year PA SHPO selects a few of these stories for a Community Initiative Award.

Continue reading

Celebrating the Slate Hill Cemetery

This week’s 2023 Community Initiative Award winner spotlight is on the Slate Hill Cemetery in Lower Makefield Township, Bucks County.

Lower Makefield’s Slate Hill Cemetery is an intact Colonial-era graveyard that was established in 1690 as a Quaker burial ground and was later expanded to include the township’s first public cemetery. It contains about 580 burials, including veterans of the U.S. Colored Troops who served in the Civil War. The earliest known burial dates to 1698 and the last known burial was in 1918.

Recently, the Township – which is one of Pennsylvania’s Certified Local Governments (CLG) – began an ambitious project to document, preserve, and promote the history of the cemetery.  I asked some of the folks from the Historical Commission, which is spearheading the effort, to share the story with us.

Continue reading

Wordpress Social Share Plugin powered by Ultimatelysocial