THE SIGN READS: "The Meeting up Little River in Perquimans began in 1713 in the house of Christopher and Mary Nicholson, descendants of Nicholson's persecuted in Massachusetts in the 1600s. In 1744 the property was conveyed to Quaker trustees. John Woolman, antislavery leader from New Jersey, labored to a crowd in 1757.
The Meeting nurtured Thomas Nicholson, minister and antislavery advocate, in the 1700s. NC Yearly Meeting convened here for nine sessions between 1786-1812. Social problems and migrations to lands West were largely responsible for the sale of the meetinghouse lot in 1856."
Photos provided by Robert D. Hill
The first mention of a Friends meeting at Little River was at the Monthly
Meeting on 7-10-1681. At that time, the Meeting met at the house of
Henry Prows. The Monthly Meeting circulated here every other month
during 1681 and 1682 when it was divided into two Monthly Meetings
(Pasquotank & Little River MM and Perquimans MM).
After the friendly division of the MM, Pasquotank & Little River MM
continued to meet at Henry Prows' house until c. 1696. When the MM
met on 9-5-1696, it was held at the house of Henry White (and Henry
Prows disappeared from the records; maybe he died).
Little River meeting met at the house of Henry White from 1696 until it
was laid down on 2-5-1705. The MM met here 1696-1702.
Little River meeting was opened again on 2-19-1716. The first men's overseers
appointed specifically for Little River were Samuel Bundy and John Nixon,
in 1735. There had been other overseers before that point for the whole
MM, but not specifically for Little River. The first women overseers for Little
River were appointed in 1739.
Here is a list of overseers at Little River:
WOMEN:
Seth Hinshaw
DIRECTIONS TO THE QUAKER GRAVEYARD
Take Old US 17 (SR1367) east towards Woodville. Stay on this road
past Woodville, then take the last road off to the right which is
still in Perquimans County.
Little River is the boundary between Perquimans and Pasquotank
Counties.
This road leading to the right (south) is called Nursing Home Road, or
SR 1330. Follow it a short piece (half mile or so), then take the first
left, which is SR 1371 / Gregory's Lane. This road was gravel in 1991.
About half way between the beginning of the road and its end on
Little River, the burial ground is located on the southern side of the
road. There was a trailer there just to the east of the site.
There was a man in his 90s who claimed to remember the remanants
of the Meeting House there, but two men in their 70s at the nursing
home said they had never seen anything but a grave yard.
Seth Hinshaw |
