Ercildoun, Pennsylvania

Ercildoun Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
Fallowfields Meetinghouse, built 1801
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Nearest city	Coatesville, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	39°56′35″N 75°50′31″W / 39.94306°N 75.84194°W / 39.94306; -75.84194Coordinates: 39°56′35″N 75°50′31″W / 39.94306°N 75.84194°W / 39.94306; -75.84194
Area	43 acres (17 ha)
MPS	East Fallowfield Township MRA
NRHP Reference #	85001157
Added to NRHP	May 20, 1985

Ercildoun, population about 100, is an unincorporated community in East Fallowfield Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The hamlet was founded by Quakers and was an early center of the abolitionist movement. In 1985 the entire hamlet, including 31 properties, was listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places. Of these properties two were vacant land, 14 were significant buildings, ten were contributing buildings, and five buildings, built in the 1950s, were non-contributing. The Lukens Pierce House, an octagon house listed separately on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, is located about half a mile northwest of the hamlet. Ercildoun is one of about ten hamlets in the township, which has no cities or towns, but has 31 sites listed on the National Register. Though it may not be the largest hamlet, Ercildoun is near the center of the township, and historically among the best known. The city of Coatesville is about 3 miles north.

The name "Ercildoun" was taken from the poem, "Thomas the Rhymer" by Sir Walter Scott when the hamlet's post office opened in 1850, but it was misspelled "Ercildown" until 1854. The main character in the poem was Thomas of Ercildoun, from Ercildoune, Scotland.

Land in the current hamlet was first settled by Quaker farmers in the final years of the eighteenth century. In 1801 the current Fallowfields Friends Meeting House was built, which, with the adjoining cemetery, People's Hall, and a grocery store, forms the center of town. Arising from Quaker beliefs, the abolitionist East Fallowfield Anti-Slavery Society was formed in 1835 with James Fulton Jr. as the recording secretary, and 33 other members. Fulton became active as an officer of the county and state anti-slavery societies and attended national meetings on abolition. In its first annual report the Society stated that they had distributed 3,000 books and tracts and gathered signatures petitioning Congress to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia and the territories.