_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________SettlingSettling thethe _ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________AlbemarleAlbemarle SoundSound _ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ As you read, look for: This section will help you meet the • how North Carolina’s geography affected settlement following objective: 8.1.01 Assess the impact of • why Virginians moved south to North Carolina geography on the settlement and • vocabulary terms neck, speculate, customs duty economy of the Carolina colony. One of the more unusual places to live in North Carolina is on a “neck.” Necks are peninsulas lo- cated only in the northeastern corner of the state. These peninsulas—where the land is surrounded by water on three sides—are found on the north- ern shore of the Albemarle Sound. There the colony of Carolina had its origins, on places like Durant’s Neck. These neighborhoods were the first European-based communities in what became North Carolina. For a half century—from the 1650s to the early 1700s—the people of the Albemarle made homes for themselves and their families, fought over who would rule them, and developed some of the feisty attitudes about government and authority that later North Carolinians would imitate. During this time, the Carolina colony was owned by English aristo- crats called the Lords Proprietors. The Proprietors and their colonists seldom got along. Settlers from the North The Durants were among the first whites to settle what would become North Carolina. Some- time in the 1650s, George Durant was a partner in exploring the land with two other Virginians, Richard and Nathaniel Batts. They had originally been partners in trad- Above: The Perquimans River ing with the local Indians. A “Batts House” is on a map of the Albemarle bounds Durant’s Neck on the west. Sound region drawn in 1657. Their trading and shipping might have In the distance is the Albemarle induced them to buy land. While Richard stuck to the sea, Nathaniel Sound. Section 1: Settling the Albemarle Sound 91 and George took out some of the earliest deeds in the area. Batts bought land from the Yeopim Indians in 1660, and Durant bought land in 1661. Why were these people settling on the Albemarle? After the failure of the Roanoke colony, the English waited until 1607 to establish their first The name Carolina permanent base in the New World, at Jamestown. A prosperous, tobacco- was a Latin reference to growing colony of Virginia grew up around the James River. In contrast, the name of the King, few settlers came south into “Carolina” (the name given the former Charles I. Roanoke colony). The Chesapeake Bay was deeper and easier to navi- gate than the shallow Roanoke Sound. In addition, the overland way was hindered by the Great Dismal Swamp—a stretch of cypress, cedar, and standing water that extended more than thirty miles along what would later be the border between the colonies of Virginia and Carolina. The profits to be made from tobacco eventually spurred interest in the lands beyond the Dismal. Tobacco leached (pulled the nutrients out of) the Virginia soil so badly that, after seven years, a field had to be abandoned. As a result, farmers were always on the lookout for more land. In 1622, a Virginia official, John Pory, waded through the swamp and went all the way to the “South River Chawonock some sixtie miles” where he found “a Very fruitful and pleasant Countrie.” In 1629, King Charles I gave a vast tract of land south of the Dismal to his attorney general, Sir Robert Heath. The Heath patent went unused, however, as Englishmen concentrated their efforts on the more acces- sible lands of the Chesapeake. By the 1650s, the best Virginia lands had been taken, and tobacco prices had fallen. This made it harder for newcomers to make a living there. 92 Chapter 3: The Proprietors and Their Problems What brought George Durant and others to the Albemarle was the chance to grow more tobacco with less effort and expense. Durant and his neigh- bors were also speculating on land, buying the land in the hopes that prices would rise as other farmers needed new areas for their crops. Carolina “Rogues” There was another reason the Albemarle Sound beckoned the new settlers. Tobacco was a huge source of revenue for the king. Tobacco taxes, col- lected as customs duties (fees paid when a good was shipped out of a port) had become a way England could afford the expense of its colonies in the New World. Virginians were constantly watched to make sure that they paid their taxes. The first settlers to the remote necks of the Albemarle soon developed a reputation for being “rogues,” a term used back then for cheaters. That was because they often shipped their tobacco and other products through back channels without paying the tax collector. In this way, someone like George Durant could profit even though he did not live in the richer sections of Virginia. Durant Above: Sir Robert Heath was not could grow his own tobacco, buy up the leaf grown by his neighbors, able to plant a colony in Carolina. then arrange to ship the tobacco on small boats that came down the coast In 1638, Heath gave the patent from New England. Unlike the large English ships that sailed the Chesa- to Henry, Lord Maltravers. He too peake, the two-masted Yankee sloops could go across the shallow sounds. could not settle a colony in They then returned north along the edge of the Gulf Stream with small Carolina. During the 1640s and cargoes of tobacco, corn, and wheat (which did not grow well in the colder 1650s, unrest in England put a northern colonies) and found ready markets there. A Boston merchant stop to colonizing efforts. Opposite could buy up several boatloads of produce and combine them into a larger page, above: The navigable rivers shipload that would bring a profit in England. flowing southward from Virginia For several years, the Durants and their neighbors did well, and oth- brought perhaps five hundred ers joined them. By 1665, for example, a government official noted that settlers to the area above the “fortie miles square will not comprehend the Inhabitants already seated.” Albemarle Sound by the 1660s. Their ability to succeed was helped by the fact that the status of their The settlers were looking for more property was uncertain. Were they part of Virginia, or did they belong to lands on which to plant tobacco. the new colony of Carolina? It would take years to decide the matter, and the contentious character of the colony would be established. It’s Your Turn 1. Where were the first settlements in what is today North Carolina? 2. Why were North Carolinians considered to be “rogues”? Section 1: Settling the Albemarle Sound 93 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________CAROLINA