HOMECOMING WEEKEND IN NEWBERRY, MAY 16 - 18, 2008 We've returned from a wonderful weekend in Newberry, having met 50 new "cousins," visited several historic sites, learned about the Great Wagon Road, and had enough good food to last us a long time. We began the weekend on Friday evening as guests of the Newberry Historical and Museum Society at the Gauntt House, the oldest house in Newberry and home of one of our Quaker forebears, James Gauntt. Our thanks go to Randy Berry, this year's president of the Society and to Carol Montgomery who not only prepared all the food, but was our hostess in the house also. Saturday morning we all met at the front porch of the DeWalt House. We introduced ourselves to the group and posed our individual "burning questions" so that others might know what we were particularly looking for and, maybe, have a contribution to our research. Some of our group had never visited the Historic Bush River Cemetery, next stop on our agenda. Others had, but it had been several years. The cemetery is in very good condition, even with the two big trees that fell during last month's tornado. We had a gathering to view the new bench and heard greetings from the John Allen, chairman of the North Carolina Yearly Meeting's Cemetery Committee. John thanked us all for the work we have done in preserving and protecting the Bush River Cemetery. Cassandra Fralix read from Lloyd Timmons's essay on our connections to our ancestors: http://home.swbell.net/koplend/we_are_the_chosen.htm One of our long term goals is to save the interest from the money that we collect for Cemetery maintenance and put those accrued savings toward the purchase of a permanent granite bench. For now, however, our new bench provides a place for contemplation and rest. The bench was purchased by a descendant family and given to our group, so that we have not used any of our Clean Up funds for it. It is situated outside the boundaries of the Cemetery, but with a beautiful view of the whole plot. Next we were off on our Wagon Road adventure, with a drive along Molly's Rock Road which parallels the Great Wagon Road in many places. You'll be able to see the actual road bed in some of the photos which Marsha Moses uploaded for us at: http://picasaweb.google.com/marshamoses47/BushRiverHomecoming2008?pli=1 Lunch at the Pavilion at Molly's Rock Park was in a perfect setting. Afterwards, our group split up as some of us continued to Rose Hill Plantation in Union County and others did research or visited other historic sites. As we drove through the Sumpter National Forest, we saw other remnants of the Wagon Road. After Rose Hill our group traveled about 2 miles to visit Padgett's Creek Quaker Cemetery near Sedalia in Union County. Barnett Warren, Mike Becknell, and Park Ranger Charles Barreras spoke to our group there. Our Quaker ancestors in this area were Smiths, Edmundsons, and Pearsons. Then some of us ( still not having seen enough cemeteries!) went on to find the Pearson Cemetery nearby. Saturday night's banquet was at the upstairs room of Steven W's restaurant in Newberry, which was a perfect size for our group. We had a fabulous presentation by three of our group who had researched and photographed various portions of the Wagon Road. Thank you so much to Nancy Magnuson, Marsha Moses, and Sue Wyatt. Marsha was inspired to buy and bring some video equipment which she learned to use in one hour so that she could present the group's slides to us. Sunday morning we had a special pleasure. Several of our group represented various Friends Meetings in South Carolina. Grace Gifford, Gita Larson, and Alice Wald conducted a Meeting for us on the side porch of the DeWalt House. The setting was perfect and, as we meditated on the lives of our Quaker ancestors and how they have affected us today, we were surrounded by the sounds of birds and church bells in the distance. Sharon Shaw, our hostess at the DeWalt House had prepared a wonderful continental breakfast on Sunday for us. We also had her fabulous cookies and snacks throughout the weekend. Your Homecoming Committee (Ann Crowley, Judy Russell, and Susan Webber) had a great time working on this project. We have feedback from our attendees with lots of great ideas for coming events. We also welcome comments and questions from our listserv group. We'd be interested in hearing, especially, what some of the others did who forged out on their own for research and fun. We were fortunate to be blessed with perfect weather, but as we know from past gatherings, a little adversity doesn't bother us, especially now that we know a little more about what our Quaker ancestors must have endured to get to Newberry. We especially thank Ernest Shealy and Jim Clamp, our local experts who traveled with us and answered our many questions. Judy's photos, going from last taken to earliest are at: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=p9y17kv.cp4cp5ln&x=0&h=1&y=p3kdo7&localeid=en_US HOMECOMING MATERIALS We have extra packets of all of our Homecoming materials: handouts, registration lists, maps, and pamphlets. Write to me at [email protected] if you are interested. There is a small cost involved to cover printing and mailing expenses.