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7 became part of Ayr Mount plantation. It appears to be shown on the Sauthier Map of 1768 as a structure with two outbuildings and at least two hedged or fenced reef angular fields . It is clear that crops such as wheat, barley and oats were successfully produced on the farmstead (Nash 19530, 85 ) . The Few farm appears to have done double duty as a household and as an ordinary (Jones 1881 : 344 ; see also Nash 1953 : 83 ) . It was common for eighteenth- century area inhabitants to supplement their subsistence farming with income derived from milling (e . g . , saw mills, grist mills) , from running taverns (e . g . , a room or two at your house) , or from other possible cash making endeavors (e. g . , blacksmithing, raising some cash crops) (Anderson 1990 : 24 ; Mattson 1996) . William Few and his brother, for instance, ran a saw and grist mill on the Eno (Nash 1953 * 82) . Michael Synnott (aka Synodd, Sennitt, etc. ) operated a mill to the east (now modern Durham County, vicinity West Point on the Eno ) early on, and also operated one of the earliest ordinaries or taverns at one of his residences . He is listed as applying for a license to run a tavern in 1753 , at a house described as found along the Great Trading Path (Anderson 1990 : 24) . During the Colonial Period the St . Mary ' s area would, have been sparsely settled, although the lands found along the Great Path were quickly purchased in the 1750s and 1760s (Markham 1973 ) . Perusal of the relevant land grants indicates that only some of these properties were actually the seat of the main "plantation" (i. e . farmstead) . Few of these farmers would have owned slaves . Many would fit the American idealized vision of independent small farmers, the solid yeoman backbone of the Colonial Era (see Mattson 1996) . In the St . Mary ' s project area one would anticipate finding evidence of small log cabins placed in clearings close to the Great Trading Path . , or on off- shoot paths leading from that road to important public places such as local mills . Homesites would probably be located on moderate to well- drained soils near a good drinking water source (well, spring, stream, river) . Each of these farmsteads would also have held a few outbuildings such as a barn and/or granary and/or a corncrib . The material culture from the earliest colonial settlements may scanty,y, as opposed to that found at house sites built after the Revolutionary War . Roads were often difficult to traverse due to poor conditions, and the i local county seat of Hillsborough was not yet a flourishing center of regional trade . William Few (the younger) best describes this period as a time when "There were no poor laws nor paupers. Of the necessities of life there were great plenty, but no luxuries" ( in Jones 1881 : 344) . Hillsborough was then described , as a "small village , which contained thirty or forty inhabitants, with two or three small stores and two or three ordinary taverns" (Few the younger in Jones 1881 : 344) . It was not until Scotch merchants came to town that European goods became readily available (Jones 18816, 344) . Antebellum Period- . With the turn-of-the -century the Scotch merchants of Hillsborough were able to bring more European- made goods into the region. They also brought more money and subsequently choose to build places like Ayr Mount Plantation. This 1815 brick, illa was a far cry from the more typical single or double pen log cabin Palladian T-plan v cut out of the forest . William Kirkland ' s plantation was found about a mile east of town on the old William Few property. Kirkland was part of a burgeoning class of planter- merchants . He raised corn, cattle , sheep , and other grains on his property (Mattson 16