Are these historic definitions/usages, or modern? And I will admit to not having made much of a study of anything but the early iron industry. The Virginia colony was a "plantation". So when Lord de la Ware wrote a pamphlet/book in 1610 it was entitled: A True and Sincere declaration of the purpose and ends of the Plantation begun in Virginia... Just as Sir Francis Bacon;s publication (1625) was called "Of Plantations". The British "Colonial Office" was called "The Commisioners for Trade and Plantations". the use of "plantation" as a synonym for colony extended well into the 1700s. Hall, F 1731 The Importance of the British plantations in America to this Kingdom: with the state of their trade, and methods for improving it, as also a description of the several colonies there. J. Peele, London. James Brothers [log in to unmask] On Sep 28, 2007, at 11:25, Diana Bennett wrote: > 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