In no section of the colony were the great planters more numerous than in the Northern Neck; in none did they dominate society more completely. The families on the manor plantations associated on terms of intimacy. Gay assemblies, dances, balls, and banquets brought them together frequently. Dancing masters held their classes in rotation at the great plantation houses. At these homes their pupils assembled in turn, frequently accompanied by parents and friends. After the master had instructed the young men and women on these occasions, an informal dance was generally held. These families customarily congregated about the parish church before and after services to enjoy social exchanges. Attendance at county court provided another regular opportunity for commingling. Boat races, barbecues, "Fish-feasts," and horse races brought friends together at intervals. Sometimes elaborate private entertainments were given at which music, feasting, and dancing continued for several days. Rarely a day passed but found some guest at the Councillor's table. Members of the Carter household constantly exchanged visits with the plantation families of their neighborhood and with relatives and friends in adjoining counties. They dined frequently with the Turbervilles at "Hickory Hill," the Washingtons at "Bushfield," the Lees at "Chantilly" and "Stratford," and with the more distant Tayloes at "Mount Airy." With all these persons the young Princeton tutor was familiar. He accompanied the Carters frequently when they dined at their friends' tables, he attended banquets and balls with them, conversed with the people of the vicinity at the parish churches, met them at races, and observed their conduct as guests at "Nomini Hall." The sprightly interest with which Fithian comments upon these men and women and their way of life makes them seem as real today as then. For more than a century the manuscript of Fithian's journal and the letters he wrote home remained unpublished. During that time, some years apparently after Philip's death, his brother, Enoch, assembled the letters and papers and the various sections of the journal kept over a period of years and copied them in several bound volumes from the loose and various-sized sheets upon which they were written. It is from this transcript that the journal is known today, and the irregularities in punctuation, spelling, and capitalization in the form in which it has been preserved are doubtless due largely to this fact.