Mother Archie's Church

In 1838, the School District of Birmingham Township purchased "81 perches" of land from Robert Bullock and built an eight-sided stone school. This design, popular in the 1830s, allowed one teacher to keep an eye on all of the students from a central point in the middle of the room. Windows on the seven sides, with a door on the eighth, also provided a maximum of light. The other octagonal school in the township, at the corner of Heyburn and Ridge Roads, is now a private residence.

The district sold the Bullock Octagonal School in 1875 and built a schoolhouse on the adjacent property uphill to the west. It is also a private residence.

Lydia A. Archie, a black preacher, purchased the property in 1891, and the building was used as a church with adjacent ground used as a cemetery. "Mother" or "Sister" Archie lived in the frame house next door. Its foundation is still evident. The congregation met in the octagonal building for about 40 years, disbanding some time after Lydia’s death in 1932.

The cemetery was probably active only during the life of the church. A plot plan indicates that the cemetery had stonewalls on three sides and that there were 79 gravesites. Few of the markers are visible today.

The property became known locally as "Archie’s Corner," the title of a 1953 drawing by Andrew Wyeth. Over the years, he has frequently painted the site and its buildings and members of the black community who were his friends.

The property was sold to the county for back taxes in 1944 and went to Sheriff’s sale. Ten years later, the owner dedicated the property to Birmingham Township, now Chadds Ford Township, which maintains the cemetery and the octagonal ruins.

Links: History of the African Union Methodist Protestant Church