Fields of Strawberries and the black drink of the Cherokee
Following the Bartram Trail along Highway 70/79 in Crockett County, Tennessee, on an open stretch of rural highway, is a marker with the unlikely words: “First Strawberries” 
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At this point the Bartram Trail intersects with the rather more interesting Cherokee Trail. But we have our minds on higher things than the merely interesting. So it is back to William Bartram, now on his way through the Tennessee River valley, where he describes valleys of crops and pasture, with paths and roads, and Indian villages perched on the hillsides. In one passage he describes a profusion of “flowers and fragrant strawberries, their rich juice dying my horse's feet and ankles.”
In fact, long before Europeans knew the sexual pleasures of the red fruit, the American Indians cultivated wild strawberries. And Bartram describes springtime scenes of the Cherokee Indians collecting wild strawberries:
Gaining a summit, we enjoyed a most enchanting view; a vast expanse of green meadows, and strawberry fields. Cherokee girls were busy gathering the rich, fragrant fruit, others having already filled their baskets. Approaching them, we discovered that some had stained their lips and cheeks with the rich fruit. Under the watchful eye of their matrons, we were disposed to continue as idle spectators of this sylvan scene of primitive innocence.
Now much that Bartram described has gone. Many of the rare and unusual trees and flowers, including the Franklin Tree (now extinct) and another tree sacred to the Cherokee used to make a ceremonial black drink have vanished. There aren't many left of the tens of thousands of Cherokee either. But you can still see fields of strawberries. Neat ones, laid out in rows with big signs up inviting you to buy some. Recreate the past from that!
The wild strawberry (Fragaria virginiana) of America was successfully bred as an improved hybrid by French botanists in the 1700's. These were crossed with stock from strawberries found in Chile.
Picking strawberries is relatively safe, but there is a possibility of getting back trouble (or fat).