4 Business and industry
Alamance Cotton Mill, built in 1837, pioneered the state’s textile industry. Photograph courtesy of Alamance County Historical Museum. About the photograph
North Carolina was an agricultural state before the Civil War. But there were towns, even if they were very small by our standards. People practiced a wide variety of occupations, often in addition to farming. And here and there, a few industries were taking root. In this chapter we’ll use census data, maps, and business directories to learn about antebellum business and industry.
