Diana: This is a correct definition of an average plantation/farm in a lot of cases.  However as time went on (which included moving further south due to land being either used up crop wise or losing land due to financial concerns or other circumstances) this did change for some of the owners. Your larger cotton plantations in the "deep south" after 1800 were indeed larger but the numbers were smaller overall in comparison to the average sized ones that you very correctly pointed out. Jane Steele.

-----Original Message-----
>From: Diana Bennett <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Sep 28, 2007 11:25 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: [VA-HIST] Land definitions
>
>From "Everyday Life in Colonial America 1607-1783" by Dale Taylor
>
>"Until the eve of the Civil War, the average plantation in the Chesapeake region consisted of a single family who lived in a one-room house some 16'x20' or 20'x20' on 50 to 250 acres." 
>
>"Both farms and plantations were generally small, about 250 acres maximum size, since more acreage could not be successfully cultivated by a single family." 
>
>And somewhere in my research I read (I think "Albions Seed") that "farms" were under 200 acres and "plantations" were 200 acres or more. But they both had the same kind of house. - this would be 1700's.
>
>Any sources elsewhere for these numbers for farms and plantations?
>
>Regards,   Diana Kercheval Bennett


Lillian Jane Steele