s,
weavers, and knitters, and even a distiller. His woods furnished
timber and plank for the carpenters and coopers, and charcoal for the
blacksmiths; his cattle ... supplied skins for the tanners, curriers
and shoemakers; and his sheep gave wool and his fields produced
cotton and flax for the weavers and spinners, and his orchards fruit
for the distiller. His carpenters and sawyers built and kept in repair
all the dwelling houses, barns, stables, ploughs, harrows, gates,
etc., on the plantations, and the outhouses at the house. His coopers
made the hogsheads the tobacco was prized in, and the tight casks to
hold the cider and other liquors. The tanners and curriers, with the
proper vats, etc., tanned and dressed the skins as well for upper as
for lower leather to the full amount of the consumption of the estate,
and the shoemakers made them into shoes for the negroes. A professed
shoemaker was hired for three or four months in the year to come and
make up the shoes for the white part of the family. The blacksmith did
all the ironwork required by the establishment, as making and
repairing ploughs, harrows, teeth, chains, bolts, etc. The spinners,
weavers, and knitters made all the course cloths and stockings used by
the negroes, and some of finer texture worn by the white family,
nearly all worn by the children of it. The distiller made every fall a
good deal of apple, peach, and percimmon brandy.... Moreover, all the
beeves and hogs for consumption or sale were driven up and slaughtered
... at the proper seasons and whatever was to be preserved was salted
and packed away for after distribution."[64]

And the isolation that was a consequence of this industrial
independence was made all the more pronounced by the condition of the
roads. The task of cutting highways through the great forests was more
than the first settlers could undertake. During the 17th century boats
were the most common means of conveyance.[65] Each plantation
possessed a number of vessels of various sizes and the settlers made
use of them both in visiting their immediate neighbors and in
travelling to more remote parts of the colony. Owing to the great
width of the rivers, however, the use of small boats was fraught with
danger.[66] For many miles from their mouths the James, the York, and
the Rappahannock are rather broad inlets of the Chesapeake Bay than
rivers, and at many points to row across is no light undertaking.

Early in the 18th century