Tuckahoe-Cohee

Tuckahoe-Cohee

Tuckahoe and cohee were terms used during the 18th and 19th centuries to describe two contrasting cultural groups in the Virginia and Carolina areas of the United States. These slang terms are now considered obscure and obsolete. "Tuckahoe" refers to the low-country, slave-owning plantation owners, with all of their economic, political, social, and English (mostly from Northern and Western England) ethnic traits. The "cohee" were typically non-Anglican, poor, non-slave-owning, hard-scrabble independent farmers, moving into or through the hills and mountainous regions of Virginia and both Carolinas. Both “tuckahoe” and “cohee” were often used as terms of disparagement and derision by the opposing group.