The Lay of the LandChapter 1

Focus/Review

• The Coastal Plain region has the richest soil in North Carolina.

–What advantages do you think this rich soil brings to the region?

Objective

• TLW identify and describe the geographic regions of North Carolina – The Coastal Plains

Section 2: The Coastal Plain Section 2: The Coastal Plain RegionRegion

Coastal Plains• Stretches from Virginia to South

Carolina and about 100 miles wide• Covers about 1/3 of the state• Two Central characteristics:– Flat land– Rich soil make the area good for farming

• Crossroads hamlets: serve rural areas, usually a one or two stores, church, school, etc.

Photographs & Illustrations

• Look at the photographs on page 13 in your North Carolina textbook.

• What can you tell about life in the Coastal Plain region, based on the pictures on this page?

Tobacco Towns• Have been apart of the Coastal Plain

since it was first settled in colonial days

• Rocky Mount, Greenville, Wilson, and Goldsboro provided marketing outlets for the largest tobacco-growing region in the world

• Everyone from bankers to farm equipment dealers scheduled their business around the tobacco harvest

Tobacco Towns Continued• Every year fewer and fewer Coastal

Plain residents grow tobacco

• Two factors are the cause of that decline:– Health risks associated with smoking– The cutoff of government payments that

guaranteed farmers they would eventually be able to sell their leaf at a profit

Photographs & Illustrations

• Look at the pictures on page 14 in your North Carolina textbook.

• Why do you think the railroad was so important to the tobacco towns that the tracks might run down the middle of the Main Street?

Sandhills

• Have by far the poorest soil in the state

• Two good uses were completed in the twentieth century:– Golf courses in places like Pinehurst – where

the World Golf Hall of Fame is located– Fort Bragg – the huge military installation

near Fayetteville, originally designed to be a training ground for artillery

Coastal Plains• Fort Bragg is home to one of the most

important units in the United States Army, the 82nd Airborne Division

• Coastal Plains attracts people of different ethnic backgrounds– White residents – colonial settlers from Virginia

and South Carolina– African American – slaves work in the tobacco

fields– Mexicans and other Latin American – work the

land– Lumbee of Robeson County – Most distinctive

people and the largest Native American population in North Carolina

Discussion• Think about the ways that North

Carolinians have used a region’s possible disadvantages (e.g. poor soil in the Sandhills) into advantages (e.g. using that land for golf courses and military training).

• Now think about some similar ways of thinking in relation to your school, neighborhood, or town.

Ticket out the Door• Students will take turns listing things

they learned from this section, using “Coastal Plain” downward on a piece of computer paper. (Decorate for extra credit)