Griers Presbyterian Church Cemetery Old in Hightowers, North Carolina

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Get directions 1648 John Oakley Road
Hightowers, North Carolina, USA

Coordinates: 36.33287, -79.20451
Cemetery ID:

Members have Contributed

About these numbers These percentages indicate the number of Find a Grave memorials that have a grave photo or GPS coordinates. We don't know the total number of burials in a cemetery, so we cannot calculate a percentage of those with memorials, photos or GPS coordinates.

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Griers Presbyterian Church is the oldest organized church still active in Caswell County NC. Originally known as Upper Hyco (Hico) Meeting House, Griers (Greers) Presbyterian Church was organized in 1753 near Panther Creek, a branch of North Hyco Creek. Prior to building a Meeting House, the services were held in members' homes and under brush arbors. On 2 September 1797 (Caswell County NC Deed Book K page 134), Upper Hyco Meeting House elders purchased 1¾ acres on the current John Oakley Road (NC State Road 1723) from James Richmond and Ann Greer (Grier) "for the purpose of building a Meeting House". It is on this site the first church was erected. The church congregation changed its name to Griers Presbyterian Church around 1810. In 1835 (Caswell County NC Deed Book DD page 260), an adjoining 3½ acre parcel was purchased to build a new 30 ft. by 40 ft. structure to accommodate the growing congregation. In 1856, Eldridge G. Mitchell and other trustees purchased the present site of Griers Presbyterian Church. When the church moved from this location in the mid 1850's, the cemetery was left abandoned with minimal care through the years. By 1983 the ornamental iron fence surrounding the cemetery was "rusted out and fallen down". In 1997, James Clair Wilkinson, age 79, cleared and repaired the cemetery. Today the old Griers Cemetery site is on private property permanently memorialized with a brick sign and once again neglected. A small remnant of the iron fence tenuously clings to the ground. There are 26 inscribed gravestones and numerous burials between the years 1797-1915 marked with plain native stones and some with rock wall enclosures.