APPOQUINIMINK FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE 

Believed to be one of the smallest Quaker Meeting Houses in the nation, the Appoquinimink Friends Meeting house was built by David Wilson and presented to the Friends as a gift. Local tradition identifies this structure as a stop on the Underground Railroad during the years preceding the Civil War. While enroute to destinations north of Delaware, runaway slaves would hide in the loft of the church in order to escape capture. Prominent local Quakers who served as agents on the Railroad included John Alston and John Hunn. The Appoquinimink Friends Meeting House was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.        NC - 90

The Delaware Public Archives operates a historical markers program as part of its mandate. Markers are placed at historically significant locations and sites across the state. For more information on this program, please contact Russ McCabe at (302) 744-5000.  

Location: Odessa – Approximately 1/8 mile west of the intersection of Route 1, and Route 299 (Main Street) south side of Route 299.       

Notes: 

APPOQUINIMINK - RESTING PLACE. Native American Minquas Used This Area in Their Travels and Commerce 

One of the smallest Quaker Meeting Houses in the nation, Appoquinimink Friends Meeting House was built in 1785. Quakers, or friends were known for their strong feelings against slavery. Local Quakers used the Meeting as a station on the Underground Railroad. Free Africans and abolitionists of many faiths cooperated to make the Underground Railroad a safe passage-way to freedom for people enslaved. Among the station masters, conductors and helpers were Harriet Tubman, Thomas Garrett, John Alston, William Still, John Hunn, and Patrick Holland. (Howard Parker, Appoquinimink Friends Meeting House)

At Odessa, Delaware, the slaves often stayed at the Friends Meeting House on the south side of Main Street. It was a plain brick structure about twenty feet square, with a pitch roof and pent eaves across the gable ends. This roof covered a loft in which the blacks hid. (General Harriet Tubman by Earl Conrad)  

The Appoquinimink Meeting House is said to have been a station on the Underground Railroad. A member of the meeting, John Hunn, owned the farm to the west and was arrested with Thomas Garrett for harboring runaway slaves. (Friend in Odessa) 

John Alston, who died 25^th of ninth month, 1874, for a long while attended it regularly, mostly alone. John Alston was a devoted friend of the slave, and an agent on the Underground Railroad. (T. Chalkey Matlack)  

Appoquinimink Friends Meeting House listed: NPS Underground Railroad Special Resource Study 1995. 

The Underground Railroad Advisory Committee 

Charles L. Blockson, Chair
Dr. Thomas Battle
Dr. John Fleming
Dr. Ancella Bickley
Dr. Robin Winks
Ms. Barbara Hudson
Ms.Vivian Abdur-Rahim
Ms. Rose Powhatan (Pamunkey)
Ms. Glenette Turner