Image Courtesy of The Great Smoky Mountains National Park Archives
Barter was a vital element in the subsistence economy of early Appalachia. In its purest form, it was the moneyless exchange of goods and services. Barter allowed farm families to supplement the goods they produced on their farms with things that they could not provide for themselves. For example a blacksmith, miller, or doctor would provide his or her services in exchange for chickens or milk. But seldom was a household’s economy based on home production and barter alone. Even in early settlement days, most families produced something to sell for cash. It might be livestock, leather, forest herbs, or whiskey. Barter has remained useful into recent times and still has its practitioners, as a natural system of exchange that supports a strong sense of community.
Multimedia:
Below is the Digital Heritage Moment as broadcast on the radio:
[audio:http://digitalheritage.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Barter60Mx.mp3|titles=Barter60Mx]Related Posts
Rob Tiger, 2012 Mountain Heritage Award, 2012
Western Carolina University’s Mountain Heritage Awards for 2012 were presented Saturday (Sept. 29) to Rob Tiger, a Hayesville community leader who has led […]
Quilting Children will use books, magazines, Internet, people from our county and any other resources to gain background knowledge of quilt history, and the stories quilts tell. As a culminating […]
Earl Lanning Earl Lanning of Waynesville, North Carolina is a master gunsmith who has contributed enormously to the revival of American flintlock rifle building. - Personal Names People receive their names according to a number of social conventions. Often those conventions reflect regional differences. . .
Farmers’ Market The recent growth of farmers’ markets across Appalachia is part of the effort of mountain farmers to survive in a national market dominated by large-scale agribusiness. The Department of […]
