The earliest documentation of Carolina Quakerism occurs in the Journal of William Edmundson, an Irish Friend, supported shortly afterward by that of George Fox. Fox confirmed the date of Edmundson's first visit as April 1672, when the latter met in the home of Henry Phillips, of whom he had apparently already heard. Phillips had become a Friend in Massachusetts and moved to Albemarle, where he had not seen a Friend for seven years, Edmundson reported. It is on the basis of this statement that historians have regarded 1665 as the date for the coming of Friends to the Carolinas.

    George Fox joined William Edmundson in November of the same year. As a result of their preaching, the first organized religion in the Carolinas began. It was in Edenton that Fox convinced Friends that the Indians were not depraved savages, but were open to the Light and Spirit of Christ also. At that time, the proprietary charter provided for freedom of worship according to conscience. The Society of Friends grew, expanding along the coast to what is now known as South Carolina. The growth of Quakerism during the next 26 years justified the beginning in 1698 of North Carolina Yearly Meeting, which has continued without interruption. With the planting of the Church of England and the Vestry Acts of 1701 and 1715, religious tolerance was no longer practiced and problems for Friends increased, in the economic as in the political and religious realms. As these problems accelerated, Friends moved further inland. They were concerned not only in outreach to the other settlers and Indians, they were confronted with the serious matter of making a living under the circumstances of economic as well as religious intolerance.

    According to Stephen B. Weeks, the ablest and most adequate of all the historians of Southern Quakerism, about 13 meetings had been established in the years from 1665 to 1750: in North Carolina - Little River, Symon's Creek, Core Sound, Carver's Creek, Bath, Dunn's Creek, Contentnea, Falling Creek, and possibly Narrows and Newbegun Creek; in South Carolina - Charleston, Wateree (possibly the same as Fredericksburg), and possibly Edisto. (From Friends in the Carolinas by J. Floyd Moore.) The Meeting now known as Nahunta appears to have begun as Falling Creek Monthly Meeting in 1748, probably located near the present town of Kinston. It was the judgment of the meeting held in 5th month 1772 that "as Friends are mostly removed by death or otherwise from the meeting at Lower Falling Creek, that the next ensuing meeting be held at Richard Cox's near Upper Falling Creek." But in the 9th month of that year it was held at Great Contentnea located about five miles northeast of what is now Fremont. "From this time, the name of Falling Creek Monthly Meeting disappears and Great Contentnea takes its place." It is later known as Contentnea Monthly Meeting. Richard Cox moved to a site that later became Neuse Friends Meeting.

    The earliest Contentnea women's minutes, which begin in 1774, mention the following as members: Elizabeth Gilbert, Jane Saint, Sarah Kennedy, Mary Cox, Huldah Davis, Elizabeth Bryant, Sarah Edgerton, Hannah Hinds, Christian Musgrave, Lidia Morris, Hannah Overman, Phoebe Cox, Elizabeth Parker, Mary Newsome, Sarah Price and Guleemus White. This monthly meeting continued to be held at Contentnea until 1851. The men's minutes prior to 1814 have been lost, but other family names appearing in the women s minutes during this period are as follows: Beeman, Bogue, Hollowell, Pike, Pearson, Hall, Mayo, Wooten, Arnold, Copeland, Bundy, Douna, and Outland.

    In 1767, Richard Cox's daughter, Sarah, married Thomas Edgerton, Jr. and settled in the northern part of Wayne County at a place called Nahunta. William and Nathan Edgerton, sons of Thomas and Sarah Cox Edgerton, both raised large families and some of their descendants still live in the Nahunta community. During this time, a number of Contentnea Friends moved into the community, and they met in meetings for worship in the home of Matthew Pike, a descendant of Samuel Pike, a prominent Quaker who arrived in America in the seventeenth century. In first month 1751, Contentnea Meeting approved holding preparative meetings alternately with the Nahunta Friends, and five months later they approved holding the monthly meeting alternately between the two places. After 1856, Contentnea Monthly Meeting was always held at Nahunta and soon, or at least before 1863, it became known as Nahunta Monthly Meeting. In 1866, Matthew Pike gave land to the Nahunta Monthly Meeting for a meeting building site. For over fifteen years, the Friends meetings were held in this building. During this time, Friends started the Nahunta Friends First Day School, which was the first rural Sunday School organized in Wayne County. The meetinghouse was located just east of Pike's cemetery on property owned by the Howard family, descendants of the Pikes.

    A committee was appointed in 1881 to secure funds, select a site, and build a new meeting house. Nathan T. and Mary Edgerton deeded two acres to the Meeting where the present meeting house and parsonage stand. The size of the building was thirty-eight feet by fifty feet and was completed in 1882. The bricks used were locally made near Nahunta Swamp. An interesting feature of the building was a small porch with a rail across the front. Financial assistance was provided by the Charleston Fund of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, and the meeting house was completed in 1882 in time to host the last quarterly meeting of that year.

    This early history of Nahunta Friends Meeting is gathered from Contentnea & Nahunta Minutes (Women's) 1774-1833; 1855-1882, also Contentnea & Nahunta Minutes (Men's) 1814-1895; Nahunta Minutes 1896-1943; Hinshaw Book, Vol. 1 pp 279-280, Deed Books in Office of Register of Deeds, Wayne County, NC, Book EE30 pp 547-548; Book XX49 pp 127-128. Notes passed down through generations of devoted Quaker Christians were also used. It is a history of a country church and its religious development in a community whose influence has been far-reaching. May this continue for many generations to come!