Il8 HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL SKETCH OF 



principal growth is pine, it is not what we call a 

 pine barren ; for the red oak and the hickory, which 

 flourish on a soil under which the clay lies at no 

 great depth, indicate a considerable degree of nat- 

 ural fertility. On the south, about a quarter of a 

 mile from the nearest house, meanders the Crawl 

 branch, a swampy stream which a few miles below 

 feeds the Santee by the name of the Horsepen 

 Creek ; at the same distance to the north is Mar- 

 gate Swamp, a huckleberry bay, without any decided 

 water-course, which protrudes from the Santee 

 Swamp. At the period of its greatest prosperity the 

 village contained about sixty substantial and well- 

 built houses, each situated in a lot of from one to 

 two acres in area. The pine trees were religiously 

 preserved, not only within the lots, but without. 

 Those which were uninclosed, being the property 

 of the public, were protected by a fine of five dollars 

 imposed on any person who should cut down or by 

 any wanton injury threaten the life of a tree. 



An opinion generally prevails that the village lost 

 its healthfulness in consequence of the violation of 

 these regulations by the people, who cut down 

 their trees and cultivated gardens. Never was 

 opinion more erroneous. In all of the original lots, 

 traces of cultivation may be seen. It was not then 

 considered dangerous to indulge in the luxury of a 

 garden. Farms, too, appeared in close neighbor- 

 hood to the village. On the west, Greenfield farm 



