The diet consisted of pumpkin-bread, pork, corn bread, sweet potatoes and opossums venison, turkey and other game, sassafras tea and milk, with coffee and biscuit on Sunday mornings. Wild honey, berries and fruits were often utilized in the dietary. The residences generally, were one room log cabins with stick and clay chimneys. There were no sawmills and all the lumber was sawed with a whipsaw. The cabins mostly were floored with puncheon (i.e. with logs split in halves and hewn smooth) and chinked and smoothed. Many candle sticks are found in homes of today, kept as heirlooms, which were used in those days. The fireplaces were very wide, back logs six feet long could be burned in some of them. The cooking was done on the fire as there were no cooking stoves. Ovens, gridirons, spiders and pot-racks were the utensils most commonly in use. J. H. OLIVER has in his possession a pot-rack 200 years old, which was brought from Ireland by his wife’s ancestors. Above the door rested the trusty rifle, hunting horn, powder horn, bullet moulds, and hunting knife. The rifles were of flint-lock pattern. There were but few books, no mails, and now and then a stray newspaper.

Letters were hand-carried, being sent in care of any chance traveler. There were no wagons, most of the traveling was done on horseback. Ox carts were used for hauling purposes. “Buck and Ball” made a faithful team and were instrumental in setting this country more than the noble horse.

John BIRDWELL who came from North Carolina in 1809 and Kinchen BASS were three weeks in making the trip from Bunker Hill* to Pulaski and back, owing to the density of the grapevines and canebrakes. There was but one pole cabin in Pulaski then, so say the older men, although Giles County was organized that year.

* Ed. Note: About fifty miles north northeast of Pisgah as the crow flies.

There was but little money in circulation and it consisted chiefly of “shinplasters” — paper bills of small denomination.

Land was granted by the government in 5000 acre tracts. Several early settlers became extensive planters and owned large numbers of slaves. Slaves were salable property, being very valuable. The price ranged from $500 to $1500 according to size, age and quality. A robust child at weaning was worth several hundred dollars. Cotton, corn, tobacco, hemp and flax were staple crops. Some wheat was raised and was harvested with reap hook. The first scything blade or cradle was introduced in this section in 1840. Many were suspicious of it, saying it would knock down all the wheat. The wheat was trampled out with oxen or flailed.

The place known as Lower Elkton on Elk River was the shipping point for all of this County. Supplies and merchandise were brought up Tennessee River and transferred to rafts and flatboats and carried up Elk River. Each community selected patrolmen to keep slaves from escaping and to hold them in subjection. The colored people devised many schemes to evade the patrolmen. Bloodhounds were kept and a fleeing slave had small show to make a successful dash for liberty. The citizens were honest and trusting. Houses, cribs and smokehouses were never locked.

The indians evidently were in large bands in and around this place. There are traces of fierce battles with them. On Emmet SUTTON’S farm and between John S. HARWELL’S farm, on Bradshaw Creek, there is a trench yet distinct which encloses about 30 acres, with embankment for fortification. In the trench now grows a large Poplar tree. Above this place, near Jake MORTON’s home, is a large indian graveyard. A few years since Dr. GRANT in exploring this burying ground found a skeleton in perfect state of preservation. One remarkable thing is that the teeth are perfectly sound when found. The corpses were encased in hard clay and the vaults were lined with rock. The graves had head and foot stones. There was a huge pile of rock on Bradshaw the Indians threw up.

Spear heads, arrow points, skinning knives, pipes, and other relics have been found in many places. The spear and arrow points were made of chert which was mined in several places in Ohio. There is no such stone in this State. These weapons were not made of flint as commonly supposed. The pipes were made of red stone from Lake Michigan. This fact shows that the Indians were migratory.