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Thousand Welcomes Farm is located in the eastern end of the Piedmont valley, and is a part of an interesting history and tradition. The county seat (Orange County) is located in Hillsborough and was the home of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. When the Revolutionary War first began, Hillsborough played an important part in U.S. history, and it is the site where the Regulators were hung, thereby escalating hostility.
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The people settling this area were unique for an area south of the Mason-Dixon line. The governor of the Carolinas (in the pre-Revolutionary War era) had occasion to travel through Pennsylvania, and observe the Moravian communities in the Pocono Mountains. Impressed by their craftsmanship and industry, he recruited Moravians (and Quakers) to settle in the Piedmont Valley. The Moravians were a community based on crafts, not farming, and had an established system of apprenticeship including: butchers, carpenters, bakers, bricklayers and the like. They were subsistence farmers, and did not grow cash crops. Thus, they had no need for slaves, and had a major investment in education, including the education of women, since the 14th century. Salem College is the oldest women's college in the nation, and the University of North Carolina is the oldest public university in the U.S.
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Research suggests that our property was originally settled by such a culture, and a cemetery on our farm has grave markers dating back to the 1770's. There are remains of a farmhouse on the property that was built in 1860. A title search indicates that we are only the third family to own this property since before the Revolutionary War. A second home built on the property (circa 1940) has been renovated and is the home of our oldest daughter and her son. We inhabit the farmhouse built in 1950 and renovations are ongoing (or rather never-ending!)
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Because of the culture and history of the area, it is not difficult to understand why this area was an important stop in the Underground Railroad, despite being surrounded by the cotton/tobacco plantations. Even today, our neighbors run dairy farms with less than 100 acres.
We are proud of this tradition and history, and it is here we made our home and began to raise these sturdy, athletic ponies.
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