Take some time to explore the grounds when you visit.
From the Merion Friends web site:
The Meeting, as a group of Quakers, began in 1682 upon arrival
of the first boatload of the First Company of Welsh families
fleeing persecution for their non-conformist worship in Wales.
Edward Jones, son-in-law of Dr. Thomas Wynne, Quaker physician and
friend of William Penn led them.
In 1695 the now thriving community in "Merion," named in honor
of their Welsh Merionethshire, built a stone meeting house, later
to be enlarged. It stood on a well-used path linking the Welsh
farms to Philadelphia. Tradition says William Penn visited and
preached here. In the loft above the meeting room, school was held
for girls and boys, including Indian children.
There is evidence that this is the most pictured Friends meeting
house in the United States, if not the world, probably because of
its age, and because it was easily accessible from a growing
metropolis once a publishing center. Two additional acres were
given the Meeting in 1801 and 1804 by John Dickinson, a participant
in founding our nation who had family ties to Merion.
Merion Friends recently received a great honor when the
meetinghouse was declared a National Landmark by the Dept. of
Interior in Washington, D.C. Weekly meetings for worship, as well
as occasional weddings and burials in the adjacent grounds,
continue to the present day.
