Return to Assignments Page

Tobacco South Panoramas 

    Maryland's first settlement was founded in 1634 when two ships sailed up the Potomac River. The colonists lived in a village being abandoned by Yaocomaco Indians before founding St. Mary's City and creating tobacco plantations, homes, and gardens. By the nineteenth century tobacco grown in the North Carolina Piedmont made the fortune of the Duke family of Durham. The panoramas show the crops, fields, and life in reconstructed working museums in the Tobacco South.

    As you scroll through the panoramas and the linked images, make a list of those features that contributed to the success of settlers in the Tobacco South. What obstacles did they encounter? What values underlay the growth of tobacco plantations and the tobacco industry? Use the quotations to assist you in your interpretation.

Plimoth Plantation panorama

Historic St. Mary's City: Indian Village, 1634
Please click here to load the panorama.


Wampanoag Village panorama

Historic St. Mary's City: Tobacco Plantation, 1660
Please click here to load the panorama.

Additional Photos

Tobacco Plantation and Surroundings


Historic St. Mary's City, Tobacco Plantation: Homestead Interior, 1660
Please click here to load the panorama.

Additional Photos

House Interior and Surroundings



Duke Homestead, Durham, N.C., 1865
Please click here to load the panorama.

Additional photos

Duke Homestead Grounds
Duke Homestead Museum


Credits: Photographs by Carolyn Merchant; panorama assembly and web page by Rob Weinberg.
Panoramas updated by Ravi Shivanna using PanoramaStudio 3 (July 2018)