"Hideho...yeehah!" yelled Wagon Master Sarah Weeks as she snapped the reins signaling Danny Boy to pick up his pace as they approached U.S. Highway 17.

With deputies stopping traffic on both lanes of the busy highway, the lone horse-drawn wagon followed by four horseriders clip-clopped their way across the intersection and onto the next leg of their Saturday journey.

They tried singing the age old western song Happy Trails made famous by Dale and Roy Rogers, but Dashing Through the Snow was a bit more appropriate considering the cold Saturday morning temperatures.

The sun shone brightly, but the fierce wind bit boldly as the tough horsewomen ran a test run for the upcoming Friends to Freedom Wagon Train set to meander through Perquimans County next month.

“We’re really excited about the event,” said Weeks. “We

feel it will showcase our county and towns very well.”

Sponsored by the Perquimans County Restoration Association (PCRA), the three-day equestrian wagon trail is expected to draw hundreds to the event that will commemorate the great migration of Quakers from Perquimans County and other areas of the South during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The commemorative event is not an accurate reenactment but will include people in a variety of costumes and horse-drawn buggies and wagons as well as horseback riders in modern dress.

Beginning March 18, a so-far undetermined number of participants will leave the Newbold-White House and travel to Beech Springs where a lunch stop is planned. Following lunch, the ride continues to Belvidere for a Friday night campsite.

On March 19, the wagon train will leave Belvidere and ride to Bagley Swamp for that day’s lunch stop, and then continue to Winfall for a scheduled rest stop at the town municipal center and park.

Once the horses are rested and watered, the ride continues over the Causeway and historic S-bridge, parading through Hertford and back to the Newbold White House (NWH) for Saturday night camping.

The train and trail ride ends on March 20 with breakfast, church service, and driving course competition at the NWH site.

Entertainment, vendors, and food will be available in Belvidere and at the NWH during the evening campsites for the horseriders and public to enjoy.

Wearing a wide-brimmed hat to help keep the wind off her face, Weeks talked to her strong, powerful Haflinger as she guided the Amish workhorse through the back roads to Beech Springs. Each of the riders joked with passerbys, shared laughs with each other, and even received a couple of cell phone calls while riding through the county.

“We love riding, we love doing this,” said Weeks. “We’ve even ridden in wagon trains with icicles hanging from our hair - that’s how much we love riding horses.”

Wagon train rides are popular in Georgia and Tennessee as well as in the western part of North Carolina, Weeks said. A participant in wagon train rides elsewhere, Weeks said she learned of the historic mass migration of Quakers from this area in wagons and believed meshing the two into one local event would be a winning combination, hence the creation of a local wagon train ride.

“It’s amazing to read that the Quakers travelled about 50 miles a day on rocky wagon trails back then,” said Weeks. “Our ride here is a total of 23 miles ridden in two days on good roads. I can’t imagine what it was like back then.”

The wagon train was originally scheduled for October, but was rescheduled due to bad weather. The March event will be held rain or shine, Weeks said.