2009 November 21 Meeting

Join us for the November 21, 2009 Chapter Meeting.

Our speaker will be Dr. Joseph Kitchens of the Reinhardt College Funk Heritage Center. He will speak on the intriguing topic of the Colonial Deerskin Trade that preceded the Revolutionary War.

Donald & Davis in the book, “An Environmental History of The Southern Appalachians” states that from 1739 to 1761 records from Charles-Town, South Carolina showed exports of 5,239,350 pounds of deerskins, and between 1755 and 1772, 2.5 million pounds of deerskins were shipped from Savannah, Georgia. What did it take to produce these amounts? Traders, trading posts, and Native Americans with whom to trade. Between 1751-1754, there were 37 licensed traders with the Cherokee, 7 licensed to trade with the Chickasaw, 2 licensed to trade with the Choctaw, and 35 licensed to trade with the Creek people. (This background information was taken from a paper prepared by James A. Bullman.)