Sunday, July 11, 2010

Deep River History

Deep River Friends Cemetery is one of the oldest cemeteries in Guilford county.

Deep River is unique in that only two meeting houses have been built in more than 250 years of its history. Founded in 1758, its first meeting house was a frame structure. The second meeting house, presently being used, was completed and dedicated on New Year's Day 1876. Clay for the brick came from the Beard property across the road. The house was built as it now appears from the outside, but the interior has been renovated several times.


This is said about the cemetery:

"Deep River is one of the oldest cemeteries in Guilford County, although the earliest grave reading today---
P. Chipman 1803---is not representative of its true age.There are no records to show when the cemetery first came to be used or the names of the earliest people interred in the oldest part, as Quakers did not believe in marking the graves of their loved ones. Later, the use of plain field stones and then hand-carved stones with initials and/or dates came into use. Through the many years Deep River has been enlarged several times and presently covers several acres."

A walk through the cemetery shows the names of many of the people who had, and still has, an impact on the small town of Jamestown located a couple of miles away.

Should you ever be in the area and history interests you, it's really a neat place to visit.

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