Tobacco Barns

[jgbeam]

The Connecticut Valley used to be the source of some of the best cigar wrappers in the country. These barns lie right next to Route 10 in Simsbury, CT. The leaves are hung in these barns to dry after being picked.

http://www.pbase.com/jgbeam/image/41884729/original.jpg

The guy wires keep the barns from leaning. Apparently, these barns have recently been repaired and seem to be in reasonab;y good condition.

http://www.pbase.com/jgbeam/image/41884730/original.jpg

But there are very few working tobacco farms left. Right behind me is an example of what these fields are now being used for. The International Skating Center, a truly ugly pre-engineered steel building :rolleyes: where some of the big names in ice skating train.

http://www.pbase.com/jgbeam/image/41884731/original.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/jgbeam/image/41884732/medium.jpg

Jim

[stoneylonesome]

Nice shots Jim. What do you mean used to be?? It still is the source of the best cigar wrappers in the world, just take a spin through Windsor, They still refer to the fields as a Million Dollars an acre
Tobacco ready for picking, taken July 2004,

http://www.bytegallery.com/data/3096/40tobacco3.jpg

:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

[jgbeam]

Nice shots Jim. What do you mean used to be?? It still is the source of the best cigar wrappers in the world, just take a spin through Windsor, They still refer to the fields as a Million Dollars an acre
Tobacco ready for picking, taken July 2004,

http://www.bytegallery.com/data/3096/40tobacco3.jpg

:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:


Sandy, you are quite right about still being the best. There just isn't as much of it anymore. :cry: Did you work in the fields as a kid? Seems like most natives did. My daughter worked at Woodford Farms for a couple of summers.

Hey, that netting makes a great giant soft box. :cool: :cool:

Jim

[stoneylonesome]

Did you work in the fields as a kid?

No I worked on an apple orchard, Now Simsbury Farms. Lot of my friends worked tobacco, very HOT, DIRTY work....

[4nR]

i think they have a bunch of them in bloomfield around bluehills ave and dayhill rd. (well, its some kind of farmland). they just laid down the manure a few weeks ago.

[Toogy]

Here are what alot of Tobacco barns look like around here, it's a bad business to be in, in Ontario

http://www.pbase.com/toogy/image/23391788.jpg

[jgbeam]

Here are what alot of Tobacco barns look like around here, it's a bad business to be in, in Ontario

http://www.pbase.com/toogy/image/23391788.jpg

I see "Smoke Barns" on the one still standing. The ones I showed were for drying tobacco, not smoking it. :lol: :lol: We've got more than our share of those "reclining" barns around here as well. :rolleyes:

Jim

[Toogy]

Sorry, I guess this shows my ignorance on the subject :)

[marie]

soon as I saw the post Jim your shots reminded me of Sandy's pictures shown last year
and then lo and behold, up popped one of themhttp://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif

they are interesting
love the old smoky barns too (Toogy's)
his barns must have caught somethinghttp://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif
and coughed themselves to death
they are lovely though.

something very sad about them, but lovely
add them to your book Sandy
http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif

Jim, I wonder what are the white paint (?) patches for on the barn's outsides, in the second picture ?

http://cakeru.image.pbase.com/image/41884730/original.jpg

[sparker1]

Interesting thread. The barns in CT are somewhat different from the ones in the south, but so are the harvesting techniques (I think). As a kid, I worked some on southern tobacco farms, and I can testify that it is hard, dirty work.

[jgbeam]

Sorry, I guess this shows my ignorance on the subject :)

Could those "Smoke Barns" be for smoking hams? :confused:

Jim

[jgbeam]

Jim, I wonder what are the white paint (?) patches for on the barn's outsides, in the second picture ?


I am not sure what the white paint is for. I didn't get close enough to really tell. They may be boards that were replaced and then prime painted but at least we can be sure that the barns are being looked after. :)

Jim

[jgbeam]

Interesting thread. The barns in CT are somewhat different from the ones in the south, but so are the harvesting techniques (I think). As a kid, I worked some on southern tobacco farms, and I can testify that it is hard, dirty work.

I would be interested to see a picture of the southern tobacco barns. All the tobacco in CT is shade-grown (it gets VERY hot under the netting) and all of it is for cigar wrappers. The leaves are carefully harvested by hand to avoid damaging them and hung in the barns to dry. Traditionally, workers are imported for the harvest season and live on the farms for the duration of their work.

Jim

[stoneylonesome]

I am not sure what the white paint is for. I didn't get close enough to really tell. They may be boards that were replaced and then prime painted but at least we can be sure that the barns are being looked after. :)

Jim

I think you are right on the primer, seeing as how those boards open Horizontaly, for air circulation instead of vertically, and they are more exposed to the rains they more than likely primed them...

[jgbeam]

This looks to be a great new book about New England tobacco fields for anyone interested in the subject. The cover photo shows a barn with vertical boards opened for ventilation.

http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/toc/13775.html

Jim

[sparker1]

Sorry I have no shots of southern tobacco barns. The older ones, still in use when I was 12 years old, were made of logs. But that was 50 years ago, so everything now is made of lumber and looks much like those in Toogy's shots, but much newer and without windows. The old ones dried the tobacco by hot air created by a wood-burning fire at the end of the barn, with the hot air carried in a series of metal ducts. A fun job was to stay at the barn all night to keep the fire going. Now the heat is provided by LP gas burners controlled by thermostats. No one has to watch over them.

[marie]

I am not sure what the white paint is for. I didn't get close enough to really tell. They may be boards that were replaced and then prime painted but at least we can be sure that the barns are being looked after. :)

Jim

seems to be the case alright
thanks Jim
:)