Historic Charlotte

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Above and below: A recreation of a typical
pioneer settlement. Most structures were
built from logs. Only some had stone
chimneys. Livestock and crops were kept
close to the home.
PHOTOS BY BRUCE R. SCHULMAN AT SCHIELE MUSEUM,
GASTONIA, NORTH CAROLINA.
ethical systems. Their religion was polytheistic,
meaning that Woodland Indians believed in
many gods. They also had no concept of private
property. Such notions would come into direct
conflict with the cultural values that white settlers
would bring to the Carolina Piedmont.
The first English-speaking people to move
through this region were merchants who
brought finished goods on the backs of horses
or on their own backs to trade for animal hides
prepared by the Catawbas and other Native
American tribes. The Catawbas and other
inland tribes also traveled widely. Long before
the arrival of the white man, Native Americans
had established trade routes along footpaths
that stretched from the mountains to the sea.
White explorers and traders became familiar
with this system of reliable, well-established
Indian trails and adopted it for their own use.
A fundamental transformation of the
Yadkin-Catawba territory occurred in the 18th
century, when the era of Native American
HISTORIC CHARLOTTE
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