easton's vibrant history features a significant colonial footprint and a wealth of 18th- and 19th-century architecture. when the quakers arrived in 1682, they constructed the friends meeting house ? now one of the oldest churches in the united states. by the late 1700s, the town had grown so large that maryland's legislature authorized construction of a courthouse, at which time easton was deemed the ?colonial capital of the eastern shore.? today, researchers are actively investigating "the hill," a historically free african american community that scholars believe will prove to be the oldest in the nation still in existence.
