Cane Creek Friends Meeting

Simon Dixon, a Quaker who migrated from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, came to the Cane Creek area and what is now known as Snow Camp, North Carolina during the late 1740s.{{rp|[https://archive.org/stream/canecreekmothero01teag#page/15/mode/2up 15]}} By 1751, as many as thirty other Quaker families had migrated to Snow Camp.{{rp|[https://archive.org/stream/canecreekmothero01teag#page/14/mode/2up 14]}} During 1751, Quaker Minister Abigail Pike and Rachel Wright traveled to Perquimans County, North Carolina to attend the Quarterly Meeting at Little River, in hopes of gaining permission to establish a new monthly meeting in Cane Creek.{{rp|[https://archive.org/stream/canecreekmothero01teag#page/17/mode/2up 17]}} Permission was granted and the first Monthly Meeting was held on October 7, 1751.{{rp|[https://archive.org/stream/canecreekmothero01teag#page/18/mode/2up 18–19]}}

File:Quaker Minister Abigail Pike - Cane Creek Meeting Place, NC in 1751.jpg

Certificates were issued to fifteen founding members on that date.{{rp|[https://archive.org/stream/canecreekmothero01teag#page/18/mode/2up 18–19]}} By the following year, the Meeting had issued sixty-eight certificates.{{rp|[https://archive.org/stream/canecreekmothero01teag#page/19/mode/2up 19]}} There have been five physical structures which have housed the Monthly Meeting; four of those, including the present day Cane Creek Meeting House, have stood on land donated by William Marshall and his wife Rebecca Dixon in 1764.{{rp|[https://archive.org/stream/canecreekmothero01teag#page/45/mode/2up 45–49]}} The Cane Creek Monthly Meeting is often referred to as the "Mother of Meetings" because it gave rise to a number of other Monthly Meetings in the region.{{rp|[https://archive.org/stream/canecreekmothero01teag#page/31/mode/2up 31]}}

The Meeting House operated a school named the Sylvan Grove Academy between 1866 and 1903. The current Sylvan Elementary school in Snow Camp reflects its heritage.{{rp|[https://archive.org/stream/canecreekmothero01teag#page/108/mode/2up 108–112]}}

During the Revolutionary War the community of Snow Camp, North Carolina was briefly occupied following the Battle of Guilford Courthouse by General Charles Cornwallis and his troops, among others. During that time, the home and mill of Simon Dixon were seized for use as Cornwallis' headquarters. They slaughtered the livestock of the local farmers and used the Meeting House benches as their butcher blocks.{{rp|[https://archive.org/stream/canecreekmothero01teag#page/66/mode/2up 66–67]}}{{rp|[https://archive.org/stream/centennialhistorwhit#page/73/mode/2up 73–74]}} A historical drama of these events is portrayed in a theater performance called, Sword of Peace by the Snow Camp Outdoor Theater.{{rp|[https://archive.org/stream/canecreekmothero01teag#page/138/mode/2up 138–141]}}{{Page needed|date=September 2017}}

Herman Husband, a leader during the War of the Regulation, was a member of the Cane Creek Meeting from 1762 to 1764.{{rp|[https://archive.org/stream/centennialhistorwhit#page/47/mode/2up 47]}} He was disowned from the community following his expression of dissatisfaction over the dismissal of another member.{{Page needed|date=September 2017}}

Thomas Jefferson Hadley, a captain during the Revolutionary War, his father Joshua Hadley, and grandfather Simon Hadley were Quakers from Ireland, and had joined the Cane Creek group upon arriving. Thomas was disowned due to participation in the war.{{Cite book|last=Wheeler|first=John Hill|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vEgOAAAAIAAJ&q=thomas+hadley+constitution&pg=PA86|title=Historical Sketches of North Carolina from 1584 to 1851: Compiled from Original Records, Official Documents, and Traditional Statements : with Biographical Sketches of Her Distinguished Statesmen, Jurists, Lawyers, Soldiers, Divines, Etc|date=1851|publisher=Lippincott, Grambo and Company|language=en}}

{{Reflist|refs=

{{Cite book |editor1-last=Hinshaw |editor1-first=Seth B. |editor2-first=Mary Edith |editor2-last=Hinshaw |title=Carolina Quakers: Our Heritage, Our Hope |publisher=North Carolina Yearly Meeting |location=Greensboro, NC |date=1972 |oclc=410055 }}

{{Cite book |editor-last=Powell |editor-first=William Stevens |title=Dictionary of North Carolina Biography |volume=3 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |location=Chapel Hill, NC |date=1988 |oclc=498498580 |isbn=978-0-8078-1806-0 }}

{{Cite book |last=Teague |first=Bobbie T. |title=Cane Creek, Mother of Meetings |publisher=North Carolina Friends Historical Society, North Carolina Yearly Meeting of Friends |location=Greensboro, NC |date=1995 |oclc=35292212 |isbn=978-0-942727-25-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/canecreekmothero01teag |via=Internet Archive }}

{{Cite book |last=Whitaker |first=Walter |title=Centennial History of Alamance County |publisher=Alamance County Historical Association |location=Burlington, NC |date=1974 |orig-year=1949 |oclc=957374080 |url=https://archive.org/details/centennialhistorwhit |via=Internet Archive }}

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• {{Official website|http://www.canecreekfriends.com/home.html|Homepage of Cane Creek Friends Meeting}}

{{Religious Society of Friends}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cane Creek Friends Meeting}}

Category:1751 establishments in North Carolina

Category:American Revolutionary War sites in North Carolina

Category:Churches in Alamance County, North Carolina

Category:Military history of the Thirteen Colonies

Category:Pre-statehood history of North Carolina

Category:Quaker meeting houses in North Carolina