made excellent neighbors. Their manners and dress were
plain, their furniture only what was necessary, their homes were crude,
but their barns were large and their cattle were well protected.

They refused to pay taxes during the Revolutionary War or to bear arms.
Then their neighbors began to ridicule them, calling them cowards, and
were no longer friendly. Officers came and seized their crops or
property and sold them to raise funds with which to carry on the War
against England. The Legislature enacted a law whereby a Quaker either
had to fight or pay a substitute to fight for him. Their personal
property was put under the hammer and soon they were reduced to poverty.
One incident will give us a picture of those far-off days. James Gotharp
lived with his neighbors on Apple Pie Ridge. One day during the
Revolutionary War officers came, demanding that he should march away
with them to join the militia; he refused. The men forced him to come
along and later he was made a guard. He was placed beside a baggage
wagon and told to let no man go into the wagon who did not have a
written order from the commanding officer. Along came an officer who
started to climb into the vehicle. James called to him and demanded to
see his order of authority. The officer cursed him and stepped up to
climb in. James caught him by his legs and pulled his feet off the step.
This caused the officer to fall, striking his face against the wagon,
bruising his nose and mouth severely.

The dress of the Quakers is still picturesque and many are to be seen in
certain sections of the Valley. They wear a broad brimmed hat, a long
frock coat, generally black. The women wear full skirts, down to their
ankles, black hose, plain black shoes, with round toes. Their bodices,
usually black or gray in color, are severely cut, with long plain
sleeves, with a high neck, relieved by a white collar. They usually wear
a small cap, made of the same material as their dress.

DUNKARDS

Lending an air of uniqueness yet to the Valley towns is that religious
sect called Dunkards. One sees the women of that denomination, with
their little black bonnets, on almost any street in any town along the
Lee Highway.

At one time the sect was called Tunkers. They are an offshoot of the
Seventh-Day Baptists and had their beginnings in the Valley a little
after 1732.

When Dr. Thomas Walker passed through the section on his way westward he
noted in his journal on March 17th