The Cane Creek Friends Meeting , founded in 1751, is considered the first established Quaker community in the Piedmont region of North Carolina . The site was occupied by British troops during the American Revolutionary War .
17-572: 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. By 1751, as many as thirty other Quaker families had migrated to Snow Camp . 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
34-629: A new monthly meeting in Cane Creek. Permission was granted and the first Monthly Meeting was held on October 7, 1751. Certificates were issued to fifteen founding members on that date. By the following year, the Meeting had issued sixty-eight certificates. 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. The Cane Creek Monthly Meeting
51-625: A successful gristmill that operated into the 20th century. As a supporter of the resistance to Colonial taxation and as a member of the Regulator Movement , he was a signer of the Regulator Advertisement , and also was present at the Battle of Alamance in 1771. In 1781, his home and mill were briefly seized by General Charles Cornwallis as temporary quarters in the days following the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in 1781. Simon Dixon
68-583: Is a drama about Quakers involved in supporting abolition and the Underground Railroad. Written by Chapel Hill dramatist Mark R. Sumner. PATHWAY TO FREEDOM by Mark R. Sumner has been presented by the Snow Camp Historical Drama Society at Snow Camp, NC since 1994. The epic drama is an exciting account of the struggles and heroism of the 1840s and 1850s along the ‘Underground Railroad’ from North Carolina to Indiana. It tells of events and
85-685: Is often referred to as the "Mother of Meetings" because it gave rise to a number of other Monthly Meetings in the region. 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. 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,
102-660: Is one of the main characters in the 1973 play, Sword of Peace , a dramatic portrayal of the struggles that Quakers faced during the American Revolutionary War . This play is performed by the Snow Camp Outdoor Theater on a site located near his original dwelling. Snow Camp Outdoor Theater The Snow Camp Theatre is semi-professional theatre company in Snow Camp , an unincorporated community in southern Alamance County , North Carolina that brings
119-610: The Battle of Guilford Court House , the British army moved south, where some stopped at Snow Camp and took over the house of Simon Dixon , patriarch of the Quaker community. It was first produced here in 1973. Author William Hardy was an actor and novelist and a member of the faculty of the Department of Radio-Television and Motion Pictures at the University of North Carolina. He also served as
136-465: The Cane Creek Meeting from 1762 to 1764. He was disowned from the community following his expression of dissatisfaction over the dismissal of another member. 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
153-532: The Underground Railroad. The plays are set within the local context of the Cane Creek Friends Meeting , a Quaker congregation established October 7, 1751, in what is now southern Alamance County . (Snow Camp was for a time part of Guilford County during the Revolutionary -era events of Sword of Peace ). The Cane Creek meetinghouse is a few hundred feet from the amphitheater. Pathway to Freedom
170-405: The Underground Railroad. Although largely dealing with actual events, the drama’s story is fictional as are the main characters, which are based on composites of actual persons. Several characters, like Levi Coffin, Frederick Douglass, and Rutherford B. Hayes, are historical. The dramatic focus falls on George Vestal, the son of a slave-owning family, and the play chronicles how he becomes involved in
187-564: 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. A historical drama of these events is portrayed in a theater performance called, Sword of Peace by the Snow Camp Outdoor Theater . Herman Husband , a leader during the War of the Regulation , was a member of
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#1732854722594204-423: The people involved - chiefly anti-slavery North Carolinians and freed AA slaves—in the secret transportation of escaped slaves from central NC to Indiana, Ohio, and further north during the 1840s and 1850s. Although at this time several organized religions and individuals opposing slavery in the state held their anti-slavery activities to lawful means, many persons broke the law to participate in what came to be called
221-629: The show has been going strong. That same year, Ms. Myrick was commissioned by the House of Blues Foundation in New Orleans to write and direct a play about the history of the Blues. The play was so successful that it showcased at every ‘House of Blues’ in the country. The Sword of Peace is a drama of the American Revolution war period and the struggle of the pacifist Quakers . Two days after
238-410: The slave families in their hope of gaining freedom and dignity as individuals. The rich music in the play is based upon the music of the period and enriches the emotions that flow during the play. The author’s theme, by his own admission, is that cooperative and compassionate action to support human freedom is more important than violence and revenge in furthering civilization. In 1994, Ms. Myrick [1]
255-402: The voices of the past into the hearts and minds of a modern audience from around the world by producing engaging historical dramas that inspire and entertain. Its two key plays over the years have been Pathway to Freedom ( 1994 ) by Mark Sumner . and The Sword of Peace (1973) by William Hardy . Both plays examine local Quaker involvement in past events, especially the Revolutionary War and
272-527: The war. Simon Dixon (Quaker) Simon A. Dixon (October 12, 1728 – April, 1781) was the founder and prominent member of the community of Snow Camp, North Carolina . He was also one of the founding members of the Cane Creek Friends Meeting , the first Quaker community in the Piedmont (United States) region of North Carolina . Dixon migrated to the area of Snow Camp, North Carolina from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in approximately 1750. He set up
289-631: Was selected from a list of candidates throughout the nation to direct for the United States Historical Outdoor Theater Association in North Carolina. In doing so, Ms. Myrick became the first woman and the first African American to direct a historical outdoor drama in America. Her production of "Pathway to Freedom" marked the premier of this award-winning and critically acclaimed play. Almost 25 years later,
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