07/16/2026
250 years ago, the Declaration of Independence had just been signed, and the new nation was fighting in the American Revolution.
What was our state like during these years at war?
Did you know that during the American Revolution, one of the most precious materials all North Carolinians needed wasn’t gold or silver; it was salt. Prior to modern canning and refrigeration techniques, one of the few ways colonists could keep their food from spoiling was to cover it with salt. The problem was that North Carolinians lacked an effective way to make their own salt. Instead, they had to rely on imports from Europe and the Caribbean, which were subject to long delays and high costs, especially during wartime.
Learn more by viewing the "Governor Richard Caswell and Revolutionary North Carolina" digital exhibit: https://www.america250.nc.gov/digital-exhibits
Photo: Diagram of an eighteenth-century saltwork, where workers harvested salt by evaporating seawater. With no large-scale saltworks in the state, Caswell had to import salt from elsewhere. Courtesy of the Wellcome Collection.
