On October 8, 1753, a party of twelve single men headed by the
Rev. Bernhard Adam Grube, set out from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania,
to trek down to the new-found haven in the Carolina
hinterland--"a corner which the Lord has reserved for the
Brethren"--in Anson County. Following for the most part the great
highway extending from Philadelphia to the Yadkin, over which
passed the great throng sweeping into the back country of North
Carolina--through the Valley of Virginia and past Robert Luhny's
mill on the James River--they encountered many hardships along
the way. Because of their "long wagon," they had much difficulty
in crossing one steep mountain; and of this experience Brother
Grube, with a touch of modest pride, observes: "People had told
us that this hill was most dangerous, and that we would scarcely
be able to cross it, for Morgan Bryan, the first to travel this
way, had to take the wheels off his wagon and carry it piecemeal
to the top, and had been three months on the journey from the
Shanidore [Shenandoah] to the Etkin [Yadkin]."

These men were the highest type of the pioneers of the Old
Southwest, inspired with the instinct of homemakers in a land
where, if idle rumor were to be credited, "the people lived like
wild men never hearing of God or His Word." In one hand they bore
the implement of agriculture, in the other the book of the gospel
of Jesus Christ. True faith shines forth in the simply eloquent
words: "We thanked our Saviour that he had so graciously led us
hither, and had helped us through all the hard places, for no
matter how dangerous it looked, nor how little we saw how we
could win through, everything always went better than seemed
possible." The promise of a new day--the dawn of the heroic
age--rings out in the pious carol of camaraderie at their