Haworth Reunion Tour Day, Friday, June 2, 2017

The Reunion visited three sites in the Greater Greensboro area that exemplified its Quaker history:  Guilford College, Springfield Friends Meeting, and Mendenhall Homeplace.  Below are links to valuable information, videos, and maps on these three tour sites.

1.    Guildford College, Underground Railroad, New Garden Cemetery

Guilford College is the only Quaker-founded higher-education institution in the southeastern United States.  Opening in 1837 as New Garden Boarding School, the institution became a four-year liberal arts college in 1888.  Levi Coffin, a well-known abolitionist, Quaker, and political dissenter grew up on the land, which is now considered a historical site. The woods of New Garden, which still exist on campus today, were used as a meeting point for the Underground Railroad in the 19th century, run by Coffin.

      Check out these valuable links to information on Guilford College

            ·         Youtube video Max Carter Guilford College, New Garden Cemetery, Quakerism

            ·         Guilford College - Wikipedia

            ·         Guilford College, Hege Library - 'North Carolina Quakers, Anti-Slavery, and the Underground Railroad  - Numerous videos at this site

            ·         Friends Historical Collection at the Hege Library, Guilford College

            ·         Guilford College (Waymarking)

·         New Garden Friends Cemetery

2.    Springfield Friends Meeting House, Museum, Cemetery

A meeting for worship was first held at Springfield in 1773. The five acres of land where our meetinghouse now stands were purchased in 1786 for the sum of five shillings.  There is no record of the first meetinghouse, but it was probably a log building.  A third meetinghouse was completed in 1858, with bricks made on the site, still stands and is now home to the Museum of Old Domestic Life.  The present meetinghouse was constructed in 1927 by local contractor H.W. Thurber.

The Civil War devastated the Quaker communities of North Carolina. Quakers from all over the world joined together to help with the work of rebuilding, and Springfield became the center of the relief effort.  Allen Jay (1831-1910), a Quaker minister from Indiana, spent eight years, much of it at Springfield, as superintendent of the work.

Check out these valuable links to information on Springfield Friends

            ·         Springfield Friends

            ·         Quaker Heritage, the Model Farm

            ·         Springfield Friends Cemetery

·         Facebook - Springfield Friends

3.    Mendenhall Homeplace in Jamestown

The Mendenhall Plantation was built by Richard Mendenhall, grandson of James Mendenhall for whom the Quaker settlement, Jamestown, is named. The site represents a traditional Quaker homestead in the 1800's.  The original home was built in 1811. The structure included a parlor, kitchen and two upstairs bedrooms. The 1840 addition added a new parlor and more bedrooms upstairs. The kitchen was never modernized and displays 1800 cooking pots and utensils.                

Check out these valuable links to information on the Mendenhall Homeplace

             ·         Mendenhall Homeplace

             ·         Facebook - Mendenhall Homeplace

          ·        Mendenhall Homeplace and Underground Railroad - Video

·        Waymarking - Mendenhall Quaker Homeplace

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