Saturday, September 7 at 11:30 a.m. during the Colonial Burlington Foundation’s popular Wood Street Fair in Burlington City, the Burlington Quaker Meeting House along with the Burlington County Historical Society will unveil a headstone engraved and installed for Peter Hill (1767-1820), known as the first African-American clock maker. His grave had been unmarked previously.
Hill’s works can be found in the collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, The New Jersey State Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Hill learned clock making while enslaved to Joseph Hollinshead in Burlington, was later emancipated, had his own shop on High St. in Burlington, married and bought property in Mount Holly.
Jeff Macechak of the Burlington Historical Society will speak. In attendance will be the Trustees of the Burlington Meeting House, Inc. which operates the facility on behalf of Burlington Quarterly Meeting. The Quarter took possession of the property from Philadelphia Yearly Meeting in 2017. The public is invited to attend. The event will start at 11:30 a.m. The location is just inside the Wood St. gates to the burial ground: https://goo.gl/maps/2DDV6M4XgyL1AoQ2A. One can also enter at 340 High St. and walk to the far end of the property. The Meeting House and Hall of the facility will be open for tours following the event.
In February, money for the engraving and installation of the headstone was raised in donations as well as ticket sales to hear 3 people speak about the African-American/Quaker/Burlington connection. Lynne Calamia, who is the Executive Director of the Arch Street Meeting House in Philadelphia and who holds a Ph.D. in American Studies, delivered the keynote address about Peter Hill and the local economy that supported his work. Louise Calloway spoke about the Underground Railroad in Burlington, for which she founded a Museum with her own private collection. Guy Weston, who holds a M.A. in Bicultural Studies from La Salle University, spoke about the Timbuctoo community in Westampton Township, a stop on the Underground Railroad where Quakers sold land to runaway and freed slaves. Weston’s fourth great-grandfather bought a family plot in Timbuctoo in 1829 for $30.