As you walk down the path along the creek, before we get to our first historic structure - the Springhouse - take a second to appreciate the landscape around you. This landscape has gone through many changes over the last few centuries.
Before Hezekiah Alexander arrived in this area in 1764, this land was stewarded by the Catawba people, whose creation stories indicate they have lived here since time immemorial. Archaeological investigations suggest that the Catawba and their ancestors have lived here in the Piedmont since at least 10,000 BCE, and have been creating world-renowned Catawba pottery for at least 4,000 years. See photo [3] for an example of this pottery. The word Catawba refers to local indigenous groups in the modern-day North and South Carolina Piedmont region, who spoke similar languages and had similar customs upon European arrival. These groups officially came together as a “nation” in the mid-18th century in response to pressures from European settlement.
The landscape that the Catawba people stewarded was more of a mixed prairie than the forest you see today. You may notice native river cane and river oats growing along the creek, along with American holly, milkweed, spicebush, and various species of ferns. In addition, oak, walnut, magnolia, cypress, mulberry, and other trees would have dotted the landscape, but the area was not completely forested as it is today.
For example, there is evidence of controlled burns by Catawba communities who would have sought to clear the underbrush in order to establish hunting grounds and clear land to grow squash and corn. In addition, much of the dense underbrush you see today consists of non-native and/or invasive vines and plants such as English Ivy, Wisteria, and Privet that Europeans brought during colonization.
When Hezekiah Alexander settled on this land, he would have directed enslaved laborers to clearcut this area. The wood was useful as firewood, and as wood for construction of the many buildings on this site. For example, if you go on the guided tour of the Rock House, much of the wood inside, especially in the cellar and on the second floor, is the original white pine wood harvested from this site.
Tree removal would have also created sight lines across the plantation so that the Alexanders could survey their property, including human property, from the house at the top of the hill. Within a few years of Hezekiah’s arrival, this landscape would have been a 600-acre pasture for dairy cows, with few trees besides those useful for shade and perhaps some fruit trees for harvesting.
Now, as you approach the Springhouse, keep in mind that this building would not have originally been nestled in the trees as it is today. Instead, it would have been one of many outbuildings on the site that contributed to the functioning of a large plantation in the North Carolina backcountry.
