In 1794, Samuel and Jane Polk began a farm they received as a wedding gift from Samuel's father, Ezekiel. They lived there with five of their ten children, including their eldest, James Knox Polk, who was born on November 2, 1795. They worked the land with two enslaved women, Violet and Luce, and as the farm expanded they purchased two male field hands. They raised cotton and other crops there until moving to Duck River Valley, Tennessee, in 1806. For early settlers in Mecklenburg County, the surrounding countryside was well suited to farm life, with hardwood forests for crude log structures, abundant wild game, and fertile soil for essential crops, and by mastering many skills these pioneers survived on the frontier. Today, the President James K. Polk State Historic Site includes twenty-two of the Polk family's original 150 acres, and its reconstructed buildings are based on North Carolina Gov. David Swain's 1849 description of the Polk home and include material from three early-to-mid 19th century buildings that originally stood in Mecklenburg County. The site was dedicated by Lady Bird Johnson and opened to the public in 1968.