The Way Things Were for North Carolina Pioneers
A Beneficial Lifestyle in Macon County, North Carolina
The early pioneer families in Macon County, North Carolina, were known as hardworking and trustworthy individuals.
The old classic adage was as true of its women as their men: "An idle man's brain is the devil's workshop." Even the most refined of persons could not alter or modify this verdict.
During the pioneer days of log cabins, Indian attacks, and other hardships, it was the custom to rely on the help of neighbors.
In harvesting small grain crops, the sickle was mostly used. When a crop was ripe, the neighbors were notified and gathered to reap and shock up the crop. The manner was for a dozen men to cut through the field, then hang their sickles over their shoulders and bind back. The boys fathered the sheaves together, and the old men shocked them. The corn crops were usually gathered in and thrown in great heaps alongside the cribs. The neighbors were invited, and whole days and nights were often spent husking out a single crop.
Dr. Smith writes:
"I have seen as many as eighty or ninety men at a time around my father's corn heap.
If a house, barn, or stable was to be raised, the neighbors were on hand, and the building would soon be under the roof. Likewise, if a man had a heavy clearing, it was no trouble to have ample force to handle and put in heaps the heaviest logs. It was unusual for a man to need one or two thousand rails for fencing. All he had to do was to proclaim that he would have a "rail manding on a given day, and bright and early, the neighbors were on the ground, and the rails were made before sundown.
This custom of mutual aid cultivated a feeling of mutual dependence and brotherhood and resulted in the most friendly and neighborly intercourse."
Source: A Brief History of Macon County, North Carolina by Dr. C. D. Smith (1891)