Next we tried using an intersection and that at last got us to the right road and we were able to find the new cemetery of the New Hope Presbyterian Church. Right at the entrance of the cemetery - which is still in use -- is a listing of Revolutionary War Soldiers that were members of the New Hope congregation.
The second name on the list is that of William Blackwood, who I believe is my Grandmother Ethel May Blackwood Haight's direct ancestor. The ninth name down, John Craig, is also in her family line.
This building, the present New Hope Church, is the fifth church building to house the congregation --
Across the road, catty-corner from the church is the New Hope Fire Department. A very nice man who just happened to be at the church, told us to park out-of-way on the left side...
Then walk into the woods alongside --
And there you came upon the Old New Hope Cemetery --
There we found the actual grave of Captain David Craig (this is actually a replacement stone -- the original was broken), who fought with the North Carolina troops in the Revolutionary War. All of the Revolutionary War veterans have replacement stones - some have the original stones as well.
Many of the names on the stones are illegible and some of the earliest graves are just marked with stones without names. (It is believed that William Blackwood and his wife Elizabeth "Betsy" Craig Blackwood are two of them.)
There is a stone on the northern side of the cemetery that marks the site of the earliest log church on the site.This area is low-lying and the settlers found it was too wet in the winter for either graves or the church. This cemetery was abandoned in 1869 (when the first graves were dug in the "new" cemetery across the road) although the last burial was in 1897.
According to Journey to New Hope, a history of the church given to us by the kind man who gave us directions to the old cemetery, the Blackwoods, Craigs, Kirklands and Freelands were four Scotch-Irish families that came to America from Northern Ireland on the same boat in 1741.
"During the reign of King James I, Scots were sent by the monarchy to Ulster to solve the problem of Northern Ireland. They were sent to 'civilize' the country, control the unruly Irish, and to industrialize that part of the British Empire. They drained swamps, cleared fields, grew flax, and raised sheep and cattle. As Presbyterians, they displaced Roman Catholics and helped to accomplish the English objective to make the country Protestant. They developed a highly successful linen and woolen trade, which competed with English textiles and resulted in a change in English policy regarding the Ulster Scots-Irish. The Church of England imposed severe restrictions on the Presbyterians, forbidding them to hold civil or military office and requiring tithes to the Church of England, which they did not attend. Economic restrictions imposed by the English government shut Irish goods out of England and closed trade with the colonies. The linen and woolen industries were all but destroyed. Subsequently, the monarchy began to encourage the Scots-Irish to leave for America, and Queen Anne even provided transportation for a number of them to Philadelphia. Finally, successive years of drought and disease destroyed their crops, and they had no choice but to leave. Contrary to common belief, the main reason for the Presbyterians' coming to America was economic, not religious."
"Pennsylvania became only a temporary layover as the Scots-Irish were not welcomed there. Officials of Pennsylvania became so alarmed by the immense numbers of immigrants that the province was virtually closed to their settlement..." "Strayborn, Craig and their followers joined thousands of other Scots-Irish who made the trek from Pennsylvania to North Carolina following the Indian trail known as 'The Great Wagon Road'."
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