Caching Around Holly Ridge and Snead's Ferry 10/15/2009

Thursday we started out on a cloudy day, hoping the rain was done, to do some caching around Holly Ridge and Snead's Ferry. Our first cache was in the woods near a power station, second was at a gas station under a picnic table, third was in a small cemetery on a back road, fourth was also in a cemetery on Camp Lejeune property and was mostly graves that had been moved from other smaller cemeteries. The 85,000 acres of land initially acquired by the Government for Camp Lejeune in 1941-42 had been occupied by white and African-American communities and farms since the Colonial era. The plantation houses, cabins, farm buildings, stores, and other buildings were removed. Over some 230 years, many residents had been buried in cemeteries large and small. The Government compiled extensive records on all the cemeteries that could be identified and moved most of the remains to new ground on the periphery of the Marines Corps Base. This plot near Verona contains the remains of African-Americans, including headstones dating to the early 1800s. Several tombstones are marked with the simple epitaph of a name and the title "slave." The Government placed many others, simple granite faces set flat in the ground, to mark the remains of persons whose names were, and are unknown. Our fifth, sixth and seventh caches were all in Stump Sound Park. One was under a bridge, one in the woods in a plastic bird and the other one was a puzzle cache where we had to walk a nature trail and gather numbers from signs to find the final cache. The eighth cache was at a four corners near Snead's Ferry, ninth cache was at a local night club and the tenth was at Yopp's Meeting House c1813. The parcel of property where Yopp’s Meeting House is located today was granted and conveyed on October 27, 1813. It is believed that the original meeting house was built of logs and was established for the use of all denominations. Each denomination had a designated day of the month to hold meetings. Some slaves even attended services with their owners. With permission of his/her owner, a slave could join the church and many did. A separate section of land, currently occupied by the Little Zion AME Zion Church on Sneads Ferry Road, and still tended by black residents of Sneads Ferry, was set aside for their graves. The Yopp’s Primitive Baptist Church was instituted August 8, 1835, with 33 charter members. For the next 64 years, both races and a number of denominations would continue to meet there. In the spring term of Superior Court in 1877, a judge would hear conflicting stories regarding ownership of the meeting house. It seems the Primitive Baptist had locked the doors and refused entrance to other denominations, claiming they were not contributing their fair share of the upkeep. The primitive Baptist were the obvious victors. The original building is reported to have burned, although, at this time we are still unable to determine the date of the fire. Many older residents of the area remember stories being told about a fire and other events concerning the church. One such story tells of a member of the church being put out because he was insane. His insanity was evidenced by the fact that he chose to go boar hunting instead of attending Sunday meeting. The present building has been dated around 1892 by state archives and is built in the Primitive Baptist fashion with separate doors for men and women and in years past the sexes were seated separately. Pete Sandbeck, restoration specialist for the North Carolina State Department of Cultural Resources, has visited the church and agrees that it was built around 1890. “The pews are original. They are very sparse and lean, but they were never meant to be comfortable. The framing timbers are hand hewn. The log pier foundation of heart pine is remarkably sound and the support beams under the church were pit sawn, a grueling technique that pre-dates the Civil War.” The country gothic type vents are noted over the doors. Since the Primitive Baptist stopped having services there about 1980, the building has once again been used by other denominations and the boy scouts and cub scouts. Because of neglect, age and storm damages the building now needs many repairs before it becomes the museum and historical site we are striving to accomplish. Eleventh cache was at a Snead's Ferry historical marker, twelfth was overlooking the fishing village and river in Snead's Ferry, thirteenth was on a sign advertising New River Nets (fishing nets), and our last 2 caches were located at different places in the woods.
Then it was on back to the coach for lunch and our regular afternoon activities. Well time to say until next time we love you all. Mom & Dad Dori & Dick