Cane Creek Connection

Cane Creek connection refers to the large number of Quaker (Society of Friends) settlers that arrived in the Piedmont region of North Carolina in the mid-eighteenth century, primarily from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and western Virginia after traveling along the Great Wagon Road. The Cane Creek region included an area that ranged across much of modern-day Guilford, Alamance, and Orange Counties and the northern parts of Randolph and Chatham Counties. As the area became more settled, other Quaker groups, known as monthly meetings, were established. As a result, many members who belonged to the original Cane Creek monthly meeting became members of more localized meetings without moving. But some of these pioneers were restless and lived in the Cane Creek area for only a short while. From the 1750s until about 1800, Quaker migration continued further south into piedmont South Carolina and coastal Georgia. One group initially living near Hillsborough moved almost en masse between 1768 and 1779 to Newberry County, S.C., and Wilkes County, Ga. Several other families from throughout the area followed this pattern. The Cane Creek Connection, then, eventually came to influence the settlement of a wide swath of the United States.

While it is not possible to name every family involved in the migration to and from Cane Creek, many names are preserved in the records of the Cane Creek monthly meeting. The Cane Creek meeting has had an uninterrupted ministry from the time of the earliest settlements to the present. The meetinghouse is still at its original location, with the burial ground adjoining, in Snow Camp. To prepare for its sesquicentennial in 2001, the Cane Creek meeting established a "heritage room" with many family histories and memorabilia. The meeting also has solicited additional family updates to add to this collection.