Meeting History
The meeting began meeting in July 1989 as an offshoot of the Charlotte Monthly Meeting (a member of North Carolina Yearly Meeting FUM at the time). The group initially consisted of Barbara and Wolfgang Christian, Patty and Ralph Levering, and Suzy and Lauren (Buzz) Yoder, some of whom were members of Charlotte Meeting.
In 1991 the group decided to officially become a worship group under the care of Charlotte Friends, and in 1994 began conducting Meetings for Worship with Attention to Business. Patty Levering served as the first clerk of the Meeting.
In April 2000, Friends General Conference traveling Friend Nancy Middleton visited and suggested that Davidson Friends might be ready to become a stand-alone Meeting, no longer under the care of another local Meeting community and granting membership on its own.
August 27, 2000, Friends from Charlotte Friends, NCYM-FUM, NCYM-Conservative, and Piedmont Friends Fellowship came to talk to Davidson Friends about the process of becoming a stand-alone Meeting and choosing an affiliation.
April 2002, Davidson Friends became a stand-alone Meeting with the support of the Charlotte Friends. Davidson Friends chose to affiliate with Piedmont Friends Fellowship, and through the fellowship with Friends General Conference.
(Thanks to Sara Emmons Lamb for compliling this brief chronology).
From the beginning until January 2008, the group met in the Carolina Inn, a building owned by Davidson College.
Due to continually increased attendance, the Meeting relocated to the basement of the Tomlinson building, located more directly on the Davidson College campus.
In December 2007 the Meeting accepted a generous gift of property at 625 South Street in Davidson, commonly known as the "Little Yellow House."
Some activities have begun to take place at the Little Yellow House, and it is possible that in time a space large enough to hold everyone for Meeting for Worship will be built on the property.
For a while when the group began worship, one person would provide a reading or a piece of music for the worship to center on, but in time that practice ended.
The group always relied primarily on expectant waiting in silence for messages from the Divine to be shared, commonly known as "unprogrammed worship."
The Carolina Inn in Davidson, NC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The "Little Yellow House"