When the first settlers arrived in the valleys of the lower Piedmont, they found lush meadows, streams and hills crowned with trees suitable for cabin building. From overseas and the northern states of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware came the Scotch-Irish in large numbers. The native Catawba Indians were friendly to the few white families who moved in among them. The new families stayed busy cutting down trees and setting up cabins, burning acreage for crop planting and organizing the two most important social functions of any settlement, the meeting house and the local still.