Ribbon farm

Ribbon farms (also known as strip farms, long-lot farms, or just long lots) are long, narrow land divisions, usually lined up along a waterway. In some instances, they line a road.

Description

The size of ribbon farms can vary from lot to lot and from place to place. In Illinois, these lots could be a quarter mile or more long and only 30–40 feet wide. Near Detroit, the ribbon farms were about 250 feet wide and up to three miles long. In Texas, lots could be as small as ten acres in area, or as large as five miles by twenty miles.

Farmers of ribbon farms typically, although not universally, built houses on the farm along the river such that the houses on a series of ribbon farms were located near each other.

History

Ribbon or strip farms were prevalent in diverse areas of the world along rivers; locations where these farms appear include in parts of Ireland, Central Europe (particularly in Germany and Poland), West Africa, Hokkaido, Brazil, and Chile. In the United States, ribbon farms are found in various places settled by the French, particularly along the Saint Lawrence River, the Great Lakes, and the Detroit River and tributaries, and parts of Louisiana. Some sections of the American Southwest, particularly Texas, also had ribbon farms laid out.