The Land We Love

The Land We Love. . Long before Gwinnett County became today's vibrantly connected community, it was a forest. The Cherokee and Creek people lived and hunted on these ancestral lands. Early settlers grew subsistence crops like corn., Cotton produced by slave labor was Gwinnett's main product from 1800 through the Civil War. After the war, both freedmen and poor whites relied on sharecropping to survive. The arrival of the boll weevil in 1920 destroyed the county's main cash crop and ended the reign of cotton in Gwinnett. The creation of New Deal farm programs brought about further changes in Gwinnett's agricultural landscape as farmers focused on new farming techniques and other crops., [Captions (clockwise from top right)] , . African American workers and overseer standing in Gwinnett cotton field, 1912. Courtesy of Georgia Archives, Vanishing Georgia Collection, GWN 345 , . Workers in the harvest fields of Arthur Brogdon, Buford, 1910. Courtesy of the Gwinnett Historical Society , . Dairy Show, Gwinnett County Fair Ground and Reserve Grand Champions Left: O.P. Williams, Charlene, Harold, Charlotte and Tim Right: J.B. Williams, Shirley and Bobby. Photo by Clower , . (Background) Cotton bales move through the streets of Lawrenceville on their way to market in 1905. Courtesy of the Gwinnett Historical Society, [Right panel] , During the 20th century Gwinnett farmers diversified with dairy, poultry, and farm equipment. Their large plots of fairly flat land were ideal for industrial farms and distribution centers. In Duluth, Minor Corley operated a store that sold Allis Chalmers tractors to the local farming community., After Buford Dam was built in the 1950s, Gwinnett began to manage natural resources more proactively through soil and water conservation., [Captions] , . (Background) Maguire-Livsey House. Source. Gwinnett Historical Society publication The Heritage , Society . (Top) Irish Catholic immigrant Thomas Maguire's farm diary gives a detailed account of the Civil War. His plantation, called "The Promised Land," provided musch of the inspiration for Margaret Mitchell's famous novel, Gone with the Wind. Source: Digital Library of Georgia , . (Bottom) Girls from the 4-H Club from Gravel Springs and Hopewell display canning they plan to enter in the 1924 Gwinnett Agricultural and Industrial Fair. Source: Vanishing Gwinnett