The Tall Tobacco Barns

Rainbow Springs sign on tobacco barn.

U.S. Hwy. 41, Cook County, Georgia

Canon EOS A2 digital camera 

 

 Once they numbered in the thousands. But the distinctively-shaped tall tobacco barns of the southern coastal plain are just about all gone now, done in by progress and changing cultural trends. 

Usually built of logs or planks, the tall, thin, traditional barns were developed for a method of tobacco drying called flue-curing, invented way back in 1838. Flue-cured tobacco is dried at low heat without being exposed to smoke, a process that yields a mild, lemon-yellow-colored leaf called “bright,” which is popular for cigarettes. 

A decline in the popularity of smoking, with a consequent reduction in tobacco growing made many of the barns redundant, and the development of computer-controlled curing sheds of insulated metal and plastic made all of them obsolete. 

Left to themselves, the barns are falling down from disuse, neglect, and disrepair. Some have been damaged by hurricanes, and others have been leveled by fire. So whether you smoke or not, drive around and see a few of the old tobacco barns. They're a beautiful part of the South's historical landscape, and they won't be here forever.

And you don’t even have to inhale to enjoy them.

(Text and photograph from my limited edition book Georgia: A Backroads Portrait.)

Photograph and text copyright 2021, David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone