In the Absence of Towns Settlement and Country Trade in Southside Virginia 1730-1800

During the period from 1730 to 1800, not one town was developed in Southside Virginia, despite tremendous economic development and population growth. The primary focus of trade was on the plantation sites that worked together or separately with operations on the side such as a store, tavern, ordinary, or mill. After a period of more than 130 years of exploration, resource evaluation, and settlement, Southside remained a region of decentralized places where country stores continued to perform the retail and service functions generally ascribed to small towns. Charles Farmer asserts that the characteristics of the tobacco production and trade and the use of slave labor were the primary reasons for the lack of development in the region. Farmer examines these issues as well as the importance and persistence of country store trade. He concludes with a general strengthening of the tenets of the staple thesis of settlement and economic development.