Gather Place Promotes And Preserves Black History in Yardley

YARDLEY, PA —There is a new place to gather in the borough and it's steeped in Black history.

The Gather Place held its grand opening as a Bucks County History Museum on Canal Street last Saturday.

"It was extremely well-attended," said Borough Council President Caroline Thompson, who joined new Councilman David Appelbaum and State Rep. Perry Warren in the ceremony.

Built in 1877, as Yardley’s African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Gather Place is being restored and reopened by Shirley Corsey, who gave Warren and Thompson a tour of the building and described its history.

"We are a little hidden gem," Corsey told Patch Thursday. "This old church is a legacy. And my goal is to leave a legacy that Black people were here."

Yardley was a station for the Underground Railroad, an escape route for slaves, during the Civil War where one hiding place was the Continental Tavern, then known as the Continental Hotel.

Corsey, who made a presentation to the council last month, said preserving and promoting Black history is "very important."

"African-American people have been a part of the borough's history since the 1790s," Corsey said. "I was raised here. My maternal grandmother was here in the early 1920s. We're a small, but vibrant community of hard-working people."

Corsey, who took over as conservator in July, said she plans for a more formal ribbon cutting and grand opening sometime next year once fundraising and refurbishing of the South Canal Street Church —which was established in 1817 and located in the Yardley Borough Historic District —progresses.

Susan Taylor of Yardley Historical Association said the church is "the best emblem of the deep roots and vital role of Blacks within the Yardley community."

Taylor said the church’s architecture is illustrative of the Victorian-style buildings that were being erected in town at that time.

"The old church is right across from where I was raised," Corsey said. "We're on the map. We've just been here since 1877."