You don't see much burley tobacco leaf grown or drying in our valley any more--time was when everyone raised it. It was the old "cash crop" in Appalachia, wherever the landscape permitted its culture. I was surprised to see this barn displaying it to the morning sun in downtown Barnardsville, opposite the post office. Don't be confused by the "Feed/Seed" sign on the building. This has no true historical meaning, except perhaps a recent one. About ten years ago, "central" Barnardsville was used by a film crew to shoot a pilot for a TV series that didn't sell. They left behind some of their set designs to confuse future historians! The barn itself is a true relic of earlier days. Originally the road was further from the building than it is now.
(more info in comments below)
Tags: red barn barnardsville big ivy movie hollywood TV pilot history feed and seed barn tobacco drying curing burley burleytobacco nc tradition smoking buncombecounty melystu 2011 mosaic fdsflickrtoys diptych
Ceremonial tobacco grows (left), along with corn, squash, peppers, and other native plants, in the integrated landscape of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall. U.S. Capitol in the background. I love the juxtaposition of the organic and the formal in this shot, with its suggestion of the long struggle of Native Americans with our government; and, not least, the achievement of securing this spot on the Mall for their museum and cultural center. June 17, 2007.
Tags: museum exhibit Smithsonian Native American Capitol tobacco NMAI National Museum of the American Indian architecture monuments DC melystu
Burley tobacco, hanging in the open barn to dry. Mid-September, 2007.
Recently this barn was enclosed with wood paneling. It is now used for hay storage and I think that signals that tobacco will no longer be grown by this farmer.
(These five pix exhaust my 'tobacco group', for the moment anyway.)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_industry
Tags: 2007 tobacco NC North Carolina burley farming agriculture Nicotiana melystu Geo-tagged
Young tobacco plants. Mid-September. Farmers plant (it's a crop of previously started plants) at various times, hence the field differences.
Tags: 2007 tobacco NC North Carolina burley farming agriculture Nicotiana melystu mountains
Tobacco in the field. Mid-September. Cut a day or so earlier. It will dry like this for several days to a week in the field, turning brown, before removal to the barn. These plants have been cut and repositioned for drying.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_industry
Added to Pinterest, by david hannaford mitchell.
Tags: 2007 tobacco NC North Carolina burley farming agriculture Nicotiana mountains clouds valley melystu Geo-tagged appalachians incredible summer harvest autumn fall wnc blacksrange blueridge