[When/if you respond, *please remember* to either change the subject line of your response to reflect your input OR just respond to me personally off-list at jrussell2@charter.net ] +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ For the last couple of weeks, the Bush River Cemetery Committee has been exchanging thoughts about a Quaker Homecoming Event to be scheduled for summer 2013 in Newberry, SC. Our group has met in Newberry every 2 or 3 years since 2001 and we'd like to keep up the tradition. We are thinking that we'd like to broaden our range of interest to include some of the Quaker and Revolutionary sites in Union County, South Carolina. We'd like our group, especially, to visit the newly surveyed and cleaned up Padgett's Creek Quaker Cemetery in Union County. Also, we might want to explore the two or three other Quaker burial grounds near Newberry. And we have a potential suggested keynote presentation of the Migration of the Bush River Quakers to the Midwest. We would very much like to find ways to involve as many people as possible from local communities: Newberry, Columbia, Spartanburg, Union, etc. We'd like to expand our interaction with other Quaker researchers, descendants, and historians in the area. We also want to include members of the several active Meetings in the area. Over the years many different topics for research or investigation have been suggested to the group. In most cases, we lacked the time and resources to follow up. If we had some interest, we might have committees that would look into these topics and present reports to the group. The topics could include, among others you might suggest: The possibility of repairs or replacements of existing stones at the Bush River Cemetery The possibility of the use of metal detectors or Ground Penetrating Radar to look for the remnants of the old meeting house A new publication or series of family stories Investigation of the possibility of having the Bush River Burial Grounds placed National Historic Registry Transcription project for the original Bush River Meeting Minutes Signage or electronic device or IPHONE app to give more info at the cemetery about the families. Simple landscape plan and installation Where did some of our other families go, if not the mid west? why? Further development of our rootsweb Bush River website. We would very much appreciate any and all thoughts you might have on the idea of a Summer 2013 Homecoming, or on any of the other ideas I've listed here. Please let me know if there is a topic that you'd be interested in working on with a small group. There are so many wonderful things our group has done in the past and can do in the future. Look forward to hearing from you! Judy Russell