Many early texts of the churches were in written in German and German culture was prevalent with the early settlers. John’s Lutheran Church to the west and the German Reformed congregants formed Bethel Bear Creek Reformed Church to the east. As the population of the area grew, the Lutherans formed St. They had to call it a meeting house since the Anglican Church was the official church of the British colonies at the time. The facility served as both a church and a school. In 1745, the congregants of these two churches worked together to construct the first log Dutch (Deutch) Buffalo Creek Meeting House (Haus). These Germans were primarily adherents to the Lutheran and German Reformed Church traditions and many chose to settle on the banks of Dutch Buffalo Creek and its tributaries. Immigrants from the Rhine River Valley of Germany entered Pennsylvania and when tillable soil became scarce, many settlers headed 500 miles south down the “Great Wagon Road” to what was Bladen County at the time. Source: “Buffalo Sculpture Reminds of Long-Ago Rowan Residents” by Gary Freeze, Salisbury Post, June 19, 2020.Īrtist rendering of original 1745 Dutch Buffalo Creek Meeting HouseĮastern Cabarrus County and the surrounding area was largely settled by Germans. Visitors could imagine what the landscape looked like centuries ago. Two centuries later in the 1960s-1990s there was a Buffalo Ranch operated by the Cooke family just west of Mount Pleasant on Highway 49 that was a huge tourist attraction and rite of passage for youths across the region.
You can see an example of piedmont savannah at the Buffalo Creek Preserve portion of the Carolina Thread Trail (7911 Malibu Road, Mount Pleasant). As the piedmont savannah prevalent in the area began to be farmed, the bison disappeared after about 50 years.
On the eastern side of Cabarrus County, where the Germans (Deutsch/Dutch) settled, there is a creek called Dutch Buffalo Creek. On the western side of Cabarrus County where the Ulster Scots (Scots-Irish) settled there is a creek called Irish Buffalo Creek. Herds of buffalo roamed back and forth between the Yadkin River and Catawba River basins along creeks. 1970s Buffalo Ranch postcardDid you know that the American Woodland Bison (buffalo) used to roam in the southern Piedmont of North Carolina, including what are now Cabarrus, Rowan, and Stanly Counties? Early settlers, prior to 1750, described frequent sightings of buffalo and their tracks.
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