Mother Archie's Cemetery
Site Brief:
Founded: 1891
Location: Chadds Ford, PA
Additional name(s): N/A
Affiliate group(s): N/A
History:
Mother Archie’s cemetery is located in Chadds Ford Township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The cemetery sits just next to the remains of what was formerly the Bullock Octagonal School (1838). In 1891, Lydia A. Archie, a Black woman and oldest ordained female Preacher in the African Union M.P. Church, purchased the property. Lydia Archie, or Mother Archie as she was often referred as, used the building as a church and the adjacent ground as a cemetery. Her congregation met regularly in the old schoolhouse until her death in 1932.
The cemetery is the final resting place of seventy-nine members of the church, including Mother Archie herself. While less than half of the gravestones remain, it is the hope of Chadds Ford Township, who obtained the property in 1954, that the remaining gravestones can be cleaned and preserved. Mother Archie, who also built and lived in a home on the same property as her church and cemetery, was a pillar of Chadds Ford’s black community from 1891-1932. After her death, the church and cemetery became inactive as Mother Archie’s children and congregation moved on and passed away.
However, both the cemetery and remains of the church continue to captivate and inspire. Andrew Wyeth was a frequent visitor of Mother Archie’s in the 1950s and painted several images of the ruins. Although Mother Archie and her congregation have left, it is the hope of the Township to preserve what Mother Archie created and celebrate the lives of those buried there.
BCN Contact Information:
Chadds Ford Township
info@chaddsfordpa.gov