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On March 2, 1798 Mary Moore, widow of John Moore of Jones County, N.C., and Malicha Jolly, Co-Executor of John Moore's last Will and Testament, sold to Ezekiel Harris, James Hall and Lemuel Cartwright, "of the Religious Profession Call'd Quakers in Hyde County, on Mattamuskeet, for Thirty Schillings, a Parcel of Land on the northside of Mattamuskeet Lake, being part of Tract in Gibb's long Pattent and is a Part of the Land whereon James Hall now liveth . . . Said Acre and small overplus including the Meeting House Built by the aforsd. Quakers and their Graveyeard . . . is to be held for that use and Service of their Society forever." This deed was witnessed by Jonathan Harris and Gideon Moore and Registered Jan. 17, 1799.

We do not know when the Quaker Church was built, who the members were, nor the names of those buried in the "Grave yard." Careful study of later records indicate the present building may be the original one, or at least parts of the original timbers were used if there was any rebuilding before 1854.

The location of this deed was on an original Land Grant to Ezekiel Cartwright in 1730, and early maps name the point of land on the lake shore as "Camp Landing." In early Colonial days before churches were built it was the custom to select convenient sites for people to gather for religious services. One may infer that such services had been held at this point for a long time before 1798.

Ten years after this deed was executed "The Bethlehem Primitive Baptist Church was organized at the home of Mr. Daniel Murray on the First Lords Day in March 1808." This Quaker Church site became a member church and many families in Fairfield, including the Cartwright, Harris and Hall families, were active members in church affairs. We do not know why or in what year the Quaker membership transferred to the Primitive Baptist Church.

On May 12, 1818 Samuel Perkins, tutor to the children of Dr. Hugh Jones (whose home plantation was on the southside lake shore in the vicinity of present Amity Church), noted in his diary "that a young gentleman from Pennsylvania had arrived as a missionary from the Baptist Society. He was to preach on Saturday at the North side of the Lake, and it being the last time he was to officiate in the neighborhood Dr. Jones proposed to sail and hear him. Before Service was concluded the wind blew so violently as to render our return in the boat unsafe." (Perkins described the storm in detail and how all members of the party became separated and lost.)

The original records of the Church  have not survived but in 1854 a "True Copy" of the Articles of Faith, Church Covenants, Church Decorum and list of members in 1808 were transcribed into a leather bound volume, now in the custody of the Church Historian.  It is unfortunate that the original records were lost because judging from those after 1855 we would have a detailed history of the church from 1808.  After 1854 the record book was taken to all meetings, whether in private homes or churches, and complete records kept of all meetings.  In 1855 Albin Blount Swindell, Sr. became the Pastor, and during the rest of the 1800s the Church was also used as a school for the children in the neighborhood.  [A lengthy list of the 1808 membership followed this article.]

Regular services at "Bethlehem", in rotation with other churches in the county, continued through the early 1900's. Special "June Meeting" was attended by members from all churches and some from surrounding counties. Since 1940-50 "June Meetings" have been the only services held in this church except for some special occasions.

Information taken from Hyde County History published by the Hyde Co. Historical Society in 1976.)

NOTE: An e-mail from Sharron Berry Brace received on Mar. 25, 2021 gave the following information:  "I was reading the history of Bethlehem Primitive Baptist Church and saw that it used to be the Quaker Church.  I read an abstract of the Core Sound Friends Weekly Meeting which was a subsidiary of the Core Sound Meeting but I was unable to find the Mattamuskeet Minutes or the Core Sound Minutes except for the abstract..."  "I talked to a member of the library staff.  They have a set of the books from North Carolina. He checked for me and the Mattamuskeet minutes are in with the Core Sound minutes; it sounds like the earliest minutes are in 1782.  He read part of the minutes to me. Sounds like the Friends met at a Cartwright home for a year starting in 1810."

SOURCE:  Original minute book by Willis V. Webster, August 3, 1921 and included in the 1922 Stanton book

6-1-1793 - Benjamin and Owen Stanton, et. al., to select a site for a meeting house at Mattamuskeet, agreed it should be located at the lower end of James Hall's plantation near a grave yard, by a large mulberry tree.  This meeting concurs.

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