From the intersection of Route 322 and Route 550 in Matternville, PA, take 550 South for 7.4 miles. Friends Cemetery is located on the right side of highway on Route 550. (At the intersection of Rt. 322 and Rt. 550, Rt. 550 is aka Buffalo Run Rd and becomes Halfmoon Valley Rd).

In the early 1790s the Halfmoon area was frontier land and the Quakers and others were moving to their new homes in the valley.

In 1796 Israel Hollingsworth was the first person to transfer his membership, but many others followed shortly thereafter. By 1799 they built a Quaker Meeting House on land owned by Israel and Ann Hollingsworth. The deed, dated 1806 shows that for $4.00 1.29 acres of land was transferred to the Centre Monthly Meeting trustees Ezekiel Kirk and Thomas Downing "for use by Quakers for a meeting house and a cemetery." This deed was not record in the Recorder of Deeds office in Bellefonte until 123 years later, on December 5, 1929.

By 1815 Israel Hollingsworth sold his farm to an Amish family and moved his family to Ohio, and his part in starting the Quaker settlement in Halfmoon was soon forgotten.

In 1831 the log meeting house was sold and removed after a new meeting house was built two miles away. The South-West end of the lot where the meeting house stood was rocky and hilly and was never used for burials. This meeting House still stands serving as a Grange, the Quakers having merged into what is now State College Friend's Meeting.

In 1945, the cemetery was incorporated as Friend's Cemetery of Halfmoon Valley, Inc. Five directors were appointed to the cemetery board and trustees Darius Waite and Elwood Way transferred the land from the meeting to the cemetery association. The first officers of the association were Will F. Way, President; Hugh Wilson Jr., Secretary; and Darius Waite, Treasurer. Perpetual care became a part of the service offered. Also in 1945, Hugh and Rachel Wilson deeded 26 feet of new land to be added to the North-East end of the cemetery. This was enough land for two rows of graves.

In 2001, the cemetery was enlarged again. The cemetery association returned the unused land at the South-Western end to the Hollingsworth farm, by then owned by Hugh Jr. and Helen Wilson to make a total of 2.83 acres owned by the cemetery.

In 2002, board members are Thomas G. Wilson, President; Thomas Hall, Vice-president; David Jeffreys, Secretary; Elwood Way, Treasurer; Lynn Rider, Hugh Wilson, Jr., and Marlin Burns, Elwood Way currently arranges for lot sales.

Some of the earliest burials do not have permanent grave markers. There is a small area in which it is know people were buried, but there is no record of who they are or where they were buried. That area is not used for new burials.

There has never been a restriction on who could be buried in the cemetery. The local people still use it, as well as families who move away and chose to be buried next to other family members. In 2002, Friends' Meeting never had a cemetery connected to their meeting, and since 1973, many of those members have reserved lots in the Friends' Cemetery in Halfmoon Valley. The State College Friends' Meeting nominates one person to the cemetery board of directors.

Source:
"The Cemeteries of Halfmoon and Patton Township, Centre County, PA " printed in 2003 by CCGS pages 45 and 46.