The purpose of the earliest fences erected in Virginia was to restrict the movement of domestic animals.
Before European colonialism, Native Americans only constructed palisade-enclosed fortifications around their villages. Those barriers were intended to slow down possible attackers and maybe keep out wild animals that would plunder the town’s food supplies.
There was no need for fencing among the Algonquian, Siouan, and Iroquoian-speaking tribes because they did not have domesticated animals or birds. Before European settlers arrived, Native Americans in Virginia exclusively kept domesticated dogs in their communities.
Hernando de Soto, a Spanish explorer, introduced horses and pigs to what is now North Carolina in 1540, but it appears that the Jesuits, who arrived in Virginia in 1570 to create the first European settlement, did not bring any animals with them. The earliest fences to control poultry and livestock in North America were built by the Spanish colonies in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina after they imported domesticated animals.
The colonists who settled at Jamestown brought the first domesticated chickens, ducks, geese, cattle, sheep, pigs, and horses to Virginia. The first horses arrived in 1609, but they did not survive the winter of 1609–1610, known as the Starving Time.
Animals needed to be kept out of the gardens and fields where corn and wheat were grown, therefore fences were required. All of the domesticated animals could enter the fields and tread the priceless plants even though they didn’t graze on tobacco.
The owner of an animal was bound by English common law to keep the animal away from other people’s gardens and crops. One strategy was placing animals on an island; the Chincoteague ponies may have originated in this way. Another method was to fence off a peninsula to provide enough of grazing space for livestock while requiring the least amount of time and resources to construct an enclosure.
In 1643, the Virginia General Assembly changed its strategy. The legislature declared the colony to be “open range,” allowing cattle to roam at will rather than requiring the owner of livestock to fence in their pasture. Both gardeners and agricultural farmers had to construct sufficient security barriers. Three years later, it became evident what was required of an adequate fence, which included being 4.5 feet tall.
Many fence rails were used as firewood by Civil War soldiers in 1862. At its assembly in Richmond, the General Assembly amended the open range law and granted county officials the ability to demand that livestock owners enclose their animals in fencing. A British officer was taken prisoner by Charlottesville in 1779. Some counties decided to follow a “fence in” strategy, while others decided to stick with the previous “fence out” regulations. He discussed the fences in Virginia and how they were different from the fences he had seen in Massachusetts before his journey.
A Look Back At The History of The Fence
Unbelievably, fences have a long history that goes back to the very first civilizations. For more than 20 years, Secure Fence and Rail’s contractors have been constructing high-quality fences throughout Brevard County. The history of the fence and how it has changed from one civilisation to the next is something we thought you might find interesting.
Although the fence’s creator cannot be identified, its usage to keep things out and allow what is inside to flourish represents an important step in the development of human civilization.
“The first man who, having walled in a piece of land, said “This is mine,” and found people naive enough to believe him, that man was the actual founder of civil society,” wrote Jean-Jacques Rousseau of the fence’s creator.
Bronze Age stone fences show that the fence builders had no intention of leaving anytime soon.
In order to claim property as their own, the ancient Greeks and Romans would erect fences around it.
In order to establish their ownership of territory they had acquired abroad, the ancient Greeks and Romans would erect fences around it.
The Anglo-Saxons were well known for cultivating hedges as barriers, which were extremely advantageous to the ecosystems, including the crops, soil, and wildlife, that lived and grew inside.
To establish their claims, early American immigrants built the recognizable Virginia Worm Fences.
The strong, zigzagging fences were simple to build, inexpensive, and didn’t need any supports to be set up.
Native Americans erected tall stockades to enclose their communities in the eastern United States.
Ranchers in the Wild West first employed barbed wire in the 1880s to prevent incoming settlers from encroaching on pasture area.
So the next time you gaze outside to admire your brand-new wood, vinyl, or aluminum fence, consider how far society has advanced. To prevent people like Jelly and her four-legged gang from escaping, we’re setting up puppy pickets rather than stacking up a lot of pebbles to deter intruders.