Friends Burial Ground

Friends Burial Ground. . , In 1804, Miami Monthly Meeing purchased this land to use as a graveyard. Burials were made without regard to status or family association, but rather by date of death. Some of the earliest graves are marked with a plain rock obtained from a nearby creek while later markers are typically small limestone headstones, often carved with only the individuals' names (sometimes only initials) and date of death. There is also a Revolutionary War soldier buried here, showing that the early Friends were tolerant even while maintinaing the peace testimony., When the two meetings separated in 1828, the graveyard was also divided. The sugar maple in the middle of the cemetery is on the line that goes from the street through the tree to the edge of the property. The portion between this line and the Red Brick belongs to the Wilmington Yearly Meeting, while the western portion belongs to Miami Monthly Meeting. The Hicksites began burials in 1832., John Satterwhite, builder of many of Waynesville's early buildings is buried in the Hicksite side, and Abijah O'Neall, the first Quaker to come to Waynesville is buried in the Orthodox side.