Farming

What is the story?

Before Europeans came to America, Native Americans moved from place to place, living off whatever they could harvest from wild plants and animals. They knew the seasons well and they understood the life and death cycle that existed on the land. Later, some Native Americans started to farm (corn, squash, and beans) while continuing to hunt deer and other animals, thus leading to the development of settlements. Raising livestock was not a farming skill until after Europeans arrived.

Early European farms were found both in the Piedmont and in the mountains.  The European’s earlier efforts to settle were initially unsuccessful because the coastal plain, with its dense woodlands and large areas of marsh and swamp, was almost unlivable.

Diseases such as malaria took many lives in the Eastern part of the state.