As small farms in the Sugarlands recovered from the Civil War, some began growing enough excess crops to sell or trade. The more prosperous farmers opened small general stores, which were often located in the store owner's house or a room attached to the house. The stores sold flour, meal, meat, soda, salt, coffee, tobacco, snuff, and castor oil. The stores also bought (or traded for) chickens, eggs, honey, ginseng, and furs, which the storeowner would take to Sevierville or Knoxville to trade. Sugarlanders who lived near fords of the Pigeon River had the most lucrative storefronts. Among them were Richard Reason Reagan (1830–1912), who owned a general store near the Sugarland Branch ford, and Alex Cole, who operated a storefront further up the river.