The original Schwenkfelder immigrants hoped to find land in Pennsylvania where they could live as a group. As such a large tract of land was unavailable, the family groups scattered. The northernmost group settled in Lehigh, Berks and Montgomery Counties. This became known as the “Upper District.”

In the Upper Perkiomen Valley, Schwenkfelders assembled in homes for worship, prayer and Bible study. Eventually three meetinghouses were built: Washington, Hosensack and Kraussdale, to accommodate the larger number of worshippers.

Washington, the second meetinghouse to be built, was erected in 1791 near the village of Clayton in Washington Township, Berks County, The land was once the property of the three Schultz brothers: George, Melchior and Christopher. Later ownership was vested in the youngest, Christopher. His homestead was located nearby, along Kutztown Road, on the far side of the street, where a large home still stands.

Upon Christopher’s death in 1788, his son David inherited the land immediately adjoining the cemetery. The meetinghouse was erected on this land, along with some additional land adjacent to the property, owned by Jeremiah and Morris Schultz, also descendants of Christopher. The first worship service was held here on the Day of Remembrance, September 24, 1791 at which time Rev. Christopher Kriebel delivered the dedicatory address.

The location was used as a neighborhood cemetery for some time prior to the construction of the meetinghouse, as the grave of Anna Schultz, buried in 1742, testifies. Anna was the first wife of Melchior Schultz, and died at a young age.

Thirty Schwenkfelder immigrants are buried here. Their names are commemorated on a large granite monument. All three Schultz brothers are buried here, along with their wives. Christopher’s original tombstone was later replaced, by his descendents, with one in a more modern style.

The graves in the Washington, Kraussdale and Yeakel family cemeteries are aligned in the direction of due East. It was expected that Jesus’ second coming would take place in Jerusalem, so the graves were faced toward the East, in order to meet Him when He comes. According to 1 Thessalonians 4:16, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangels’ call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.”

A stone wall was built around the burial plot in 1810.

A new meetinghouse was built in 1824 amid protests from some who thought it sacrilegious to destroy the old building. A school was established in the meetinghouse in 1834.

In 1883 the Washington Meetinghouse was entirely remodeled and was in constant use for the next twenty-eight years.

By the turn of the Twentieth Century it became necessary to acquire more space for the growing Sunday School classes, and so the congregations of the three meetinghouses voted to merge, and construct a church. Several of the special congregational meetings called by the Upper District to discuss the construction of the new church at Palm were held at this site. The main inside timbers of the Palm Schwenkfelder Church were cut from trees which formerly stood in the yard of the Washington Meetinghouse, and the site’s horse sheds were moved to Palm, where they stood for the next 50 years.

The Washington Meetinghouse was demolished after the completion of Palm Schwenkfelder Church in 1911 and a marker was placed on the spot where the pulpit formerly stood. The stones from the walls of the building were used to enclose the entire plot.