The Bush River Quaker Meeting was established in Newberry in 1770 and is located on Dennis Dairy Road, in Newberry, SC. The Quakers had been coming into Newberry County since 1762, some coming to escape religious persecution, and others because of the reasonable price of farmland. Many Quakers came from England, Ireland or the West Indies. Later many came from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and North Carolina.

The Monthly Meeting was the center of their lives. When they died, they were buried at no charge in the Meeting House burial ground. The Quakers did not like slavery, thus many of them left South Carolina between 1799 and 1830, moving to Ohio or Indiana where new Monthly Meetings were established. Some moved to Tennessee and Alabama where they eventually joined other denominations. Some stayed in South Carolina, having their membership transferred to Meetings in North Carolina and the Bush River Monthly Meeting was formally disbanded or "laid down," in 1822.
On January 21, 2002, a group of 50 descendants and friends of the Quakers met at the Bush River Quaker Cemetery to begin a project called "Preserving Our Heritage." The cemetery was cleaned up, and plans were made to preserve the history of the Bush River Quaker Meeting. The North Carolina Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends still owns the property and has supported this group of individuals.

Judy Russell, Ann Crowley, and Jim Clamp recently published a complete survey and map of the graves and inscriptions with photographs of all existing tombstones and extensive family information of those interred in the cemetery and a Bush River Quaker bibliography. If you are interested in this publication, you can contact Judy Russell @ 1051 Forrest Hills Drive, Bogart, GA 30622-2442 or e-mail her. All proceeds from book sales go toward the upkeep of the Cemetery.

Quaker Settlement on the Bush River