tian man shall have his dwelling and
continual abode within the space of two hundred acres of land to be laid
out in a geometricall square or as near that figure as conveniency will
admit," etc. Within two years the society was required to cause a half
acre in the middle of the "co-habitation" to be palisaded "with good
sound pallisadoes at least thirteen foot long and six inches diameter in
the middle of the length thereof, and set double and at least three foot
within the ground."

Such in 1701 was the idea of the Virginia tidewater assembly of a
frontiersman, and of the frontier towns by which the Old Dominion should
spread her population into the upland South. But the "warlike Christian
man" who actually came to furnish the firing line for Virginia, was
destined to be the Scotch-Irishman and the German with long rifle in
place of "fuzee" and "simeter," and altogether too restless to have his
continual abode within the space of two hundred acres. Nevertheless
there are points of resemblance between this idea of societies settled
about a fortified town and the later "stations" of Kentucky.[87:1]

By the beginning of the eighteenth century the engrossing of the lands
of lowland Virginia had progressed so far, the practice of holding large
tracts of wasteland for reserves in the great plantations had become so
common, that the authorities of Virginia reported to the home government
that the best lands were all taken up,[87:2] and settlers were passing
into North Carolina seeking cheap lands near navigable rivers. Attention
was directed also to the Piedmont portions of Virginia, for by this time
the Indians were conquered in this region. It was now possible to
acquire land by purchase[87:3] at five shillings sterling for fifty
acres, as well as by head-rights for importation or settlement, and land
speculation soon turned to the new area.

Already the Piedmont had been somewhat explored.[87:4] Even by the
middle of the seventeenth century, fur-traders had followed the trail
southwest from the James more than four hundred miles to the Catawbas
and later to the Cherokees. Col. William Byrd had, as we have seen, not
only been absorbing good lands in the lowlands, and defending his post
at the falls of the James, like a Count of the Border, but he also
engaged in this fur-trade and sent his pack trains along this trail
through the Piedmont of the Carolinas,[87:5] and took note of the rich
savannas of that region. Charlesto