TOBACCO MEMORIES
Preservation Virginia’s Oral History Project
Report for the
Community Foundation of the Dan River Region
April 14, 2014
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April 14, 2014
Blair Lumpkins, Program Officer
The Community Foundation of the Dan River Region
541 Loyal Street
Danville, VA 24541
Dear Ms. Lumpkins:
Thank you and the Community Foundation of the Dan River Region for providing Preservation Virginia the
grant funding to complete Tobacco Memories- an oral history project that was part of Preservation
Virginia’s larger Tobacco Barns Preservation Project. Since they are first-hand testimonies about a
person’s own life experiences, oral history projects oftentimes produce some of the most compelling
historical information available. The Tobacco Memories project was no exception.
The Tobacco Memories project complemented the other elements of Preservation Virginia’s Tobacco
Barns Preservation Project (public workshops on barn repair, an architectural survey of tobacco barns,
mini-grant program to repair tobacco barns); by transmitting personal experiences of tobacco farming and
tobacco barns that enhances our understanding of local history.
The Process
Most of the background research on local tobacco heritage and tobacco farming families was done in late
2012 - spring 2013 during the survey of tobacco barns in Pittsylvania County. During the survey, many
individuals and families closely associated with local tobacco heritage and tobacco barns were contacted
as potential interviewees. A draft list of people to interview was created in summer 2013. This list
changed slightly due to the availability of the interviewees.
A small group of volunteers were trained to assist with the oral history interviews; however, all of the
interviews were conducted by Preservation Virginia staff. The interviews took place between August
2013 and November 2013. Sixteen people were interviewed for this project. The names of the
interviewees are the following:
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Interviewee
Interviewer
Interview
Location
Interview Date
Helen Turner Murphy
Sonja Ingram
Richmond, VA
Aug. 7, 2013
Katherine Turner Mears
Sonja Ingram
Richmond, VA
Aug. 7, 2013
Byron Motley
Sonja Ingram
Chatham, VA
Oct. 2, 2013
Billy Johnson
Sonja Ingram
Mt. Airy, VA
Oct. 8, 2013
Emma Jean Johnson
Sonja Ingram
Mt. Airy, VA
Oct. 8, 2013
Mary Ann Brumfield
Sonja Ingram
Renan, VA
Oct. 18, 2013
Neal Brumfield
Sonja Ingram
Renan, VA
Oct. 18, 2013
Wayne Brumfield
Sonja Ingram
Renan, VA
Oct. 18, 2013
Shirley Dalton
Sonja Ingram
Gretna, VA
Oct. 27, 2013
Emmett Dalton Jr.
Sonja Ingram
Gretna, VA
Oct. 27, 2013
Marvin Collie
Sonja Ingram
Ringgold, VA
Oct. 30, 2013
Claude Reynolds
Sonja Ingram
Callands, VA
Oct. 31, 2013
Norman Hardy
Sonja Ingram
Mount Herman
(Danville), VA
Nov. 8, 2013
Anderson Jones
Sonja Ingram
Chatham, VA
Nov. 19, 2013
Basic Interview Contents
Childhood memories of visiting
grandparents’ tobacco farm in
Sutherlin, VA
Childhood memories of visiting
grandparents’ tobacco farm in
Sutherlin, VA
Recollections of tobacco farming in
Pittsylvania County in the 1950s1980s; Motley and Marilla families
Recollections of tobacco farming in
Pittsylvania County in the 1940s1980s; specific information on
barns and on Johnson’s Mill
Recollections of tobacco farming in
Pittsylvania County in the 1940s1980s; specific information on
barns and on Johnson’s Mill
Recollections of tobacco farming in
the Renan area of Pittsylvania
County; specific information on the
Brumfield and Toler families
Recollections of tobacco farming in
the Renan area of Pittsylvania
County; specific information on the
Brumfield and Toler families
Recollections of tobacco farming in
the Renan area of Pittsylvania
County; specific information on the
Brumfield and Toler families
Recollections of tobacco farming in
the Gretna area of Pittsylvania
County
Recollections of tobacco farming in
the Gretna area of Pittsylvania
County
Recollections of tobacco farming in
the Kentuck area of Pittsylvania
County
Recollections of tobacco farming in
the Callands area of Pittsylvania
County; specific information on
barns
Recollections of tobacco farming in
the Whitmell area of County in the
1940s-1980s
Recollections of tobacco farming in
the Chatham area of Pittsylvania
County in the 1940s-1980s;
information on African-American
tobacco farmers
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Elizabeth Jones
Sonja Ingram
Chatham, VA
Nov. 19, 2013
A.J. Nuckols
Sonja Ingram
Mt. Airy, VA
Nov. 21, 2013
Recollections of tobacco farming in
the Chatham area of Pittsylvania
County in the 1940s-1980s;
information on African-American
tobacco farmers
Discussion on the early tobacco
barns on his farm
Since the focus of Preservation Virginia’s overall project is tobacco barns, the focus of the oral history
project was how tobacco barns were used and the integral role they played during tobacco production.
Specific questions designed to elicit in-depth discussions were asked by the interviewer about tobacco
barns. These questions generated rich information about barns specifically; however, interesting and vivid
information was gathered when the people being interviewed were allowed to talk freely about
memories they have of tobacco farming in general. Brief descriptions about each interview begin on page
5.
The Films- Exhibiting and Archiving
The oral history videos have been copied on archival disks and will be stored in Pittsylvania Historical
Society’s archives, the Danville Historical Society’s archives and the Pittsylvania County Public Libraries at
the following locations: Brosville, Chatham, Danville, Gretna and Mount Herman so they can be easily
obtained and utilized by historians, researchers any other interested individuals. The films are also being
posted to Preservation Virginia’s website and Preservation Virginia’s You Tube channel. A disk of all ten
films is also being sent with this report.
Public Presentation
A free, public presentation of all ten films was held on April 10, 2014 at the Olde Dominion Agricultural
Complex in Chatham. The event was well attended with approximately 65 people present, including eight
of the people interviewed. Several images from the event can be found on page 10.
Funds
Please see the attached budget and receipts.
Thank you again for the opportunity to complete this very important part of the Tobacco Barns
Preservation Project. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or need further information.
Sincerely,
Sonja Ingram
Field Representative
Preservation Virginia
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Interview Descriptions
Helen Turner Murphy and Katherine Turner Mears
Helen Murphy and Katherine Mears are sisters in their 80s. They
grew up in Richmond but visited their grandparent’s tobacco farm
in Sutherlin in Halifax County each summer. The interview took
place in Preservation Virginia’s headquarters, the Cole Digges
House in Richmond, Virginia. It is mainly about their vivid
memories of their summers in Sutherlin including descriptions of
other families that helped out on the farm, roasting corn at the
barns, handing tobacco leaves to the stringers as children on the farm, how their father was able to sell
tobacco at age 16, riding mules, polio outbreaks, canning food, descriptions of other relatives, attending
church, memories of a peppermint machine, going to Danville to the market, and playing games.
Byron Motley
Byron Motley is a tobacco farmer in his 60s. He lives on the tobacco
farm he grew up on east of Chatham, Virginia in Pittsylvania County.
The farm was originally owned by the Marilla Family and passed into
the Motley family by marriage. There are two historic dwellings on
the farm, an early log dwelling built ca. 1800 and a frame, I-house
with Greek revival additions built in 1866 according to the owners.
The farm also has at least 8 tobacco barns in varying conditions.
Mr. Motley’s interview consisted of his memories of working on the
farm in his youth with his family. He described moving some barns and three barn raisings, how much
tobacco acreage they grew, the horses that were used on the farm, a skunk that ran into the flues, how
tobacco farming was a family affair, how his mother used the barns as a play-pen for him as a baby, taking
tobacco to the market in Danville, how his father and uncles would daub the barns, how they used the
pack barns and the ordering room, and how the leaves were graded. Mr. Motley also described the barns
and how they were constructed and the curing systems. He also discussed some of the history of the two
historic dwellings on the farm.
Billy and Emma Jean Johnson
Billy and Emma Jean Johnson live on a tobacco farm in Mt. Airy
in Pittsylvania County. They also own and operate a historic grist
mill- Johnson’s Mill- and they live in the historic miller’s house.
The Miller Family built the grist mill in 1830. The interview was
conducted in the Johnson’s house and consisted of
remembrances of Billy and Emma Jean’s families and how they
came to live on the farm.
Mr. Johnson’s parents moved to the property in 1920. His father and relatives built all of the existing
tobacco barns except one which was on the property when his family moved to the farm. Mr. and Mrs.
Johnson farmed tobacco until 1995, when Mr. Johnson turned 65. Mr. Johnson discussed in detail the
barns on his farm, how the use of the barns changed, how they were converted to use oil or gas and the
introduction of bulk barns.
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Also discussed were the various mules and horses that worked on the farm, some of the sharecroppers
who worked on the farm and how their children- Martha and William- helped them in tobacco farming.
Mr. Johnson also discussed how they used to raise hogs and how one hog attacked him and bit and
stabbed him on his side, back and leg almost killing him. Emma Jean discussed growing up on a different
tobacco farm in the Hollywood community and how her family used to cut the entire stalk versus picking
each leaf off individually.
Mr. and Mrs. Johnson also described barn raisings and how Billy helped build some of the barns on the
farm. He described how the men would use split wood to chink the barn and mud to daub the barn, how
two men would be at each corner to do the notching, how they hewed the logs, how they hauled the logs
up with a rope to build the barn, how they used 20 logs per side or 80 total logs and how some of the
older barns in the community that he has seen were hewn on both sides and were perfectly notched at
the corners. They both talked about the big dinners that the women would make during these times. Mr.
Johnson also mentioned a tornado in 1955 that blew the top off a barn.
Mr. Johnson also mentioned that he felt that tobacco is too often blamed for health problems. He
believes that the chemicals that went on the tobacco to kill worms and insects are to blame and should
not have been used. He mentioned how his father chewed tobacco and how he always picked out some
of the top leaves for himself because these leaves had the best flavor. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson also
discussed how tobacco farming brought families together because all members of the family worked in
tobacco together.
They showed me many photographs from the past of family members, various people farming tobacco,
the interior of some of the barns, and images from a seed brochure (Coker 319 seed) of Mr. Johnson
holding tobacco. Mr. Johnson also showed images of his great-grandmother McCormick who lived to be
102 years old, raised 10 kids and smoked a corncob pipe all her life.
Mary Ann, Neal and Wayne Brumfield
This interview was conducted at the Graves-Brumfield house
in the Renan community of Pittsylvania County. Wayne, Neal
and Mary Ann Towler Brumfield all grew up in Pittsylvania
County in tobacco farming families. Neal and Wayne’s GreatGrandmother was Julia Brumfield who lived in Renan in the
early 20th century and wrote a series of diaries called the Julia
Brumfield Diaries about her life on a tobacco farm. These
diaries are extremely informational and have been
transcribed and can be read on the internet. Jeremiah
Graves, a former owner of the farm, also kept a farm journal from 1820-1878 that is in the University of
Virginia in which he describes events that happened including people breaking into the house during the
Civil War and seeing a meteorite.
The Brumfields describe the house in detail and how part of the existing brick house was built by the
Graves family in 1844 onto a log cabin that was built in the 1820s. Henry Anderson Brumfield and the
Graves family at some point exchanged farms and that is how the Brumfields came to own the house and
farm in Renan. In 1884, H.A Brumfield demolished the original 1820s log house and added a brick
extension to the house. Originally there was a blacksmith shop, a flue shop and other buildings near their
house that the community would use.
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They discussed some of their family history including how their gr-grandfather surrendered with Lee at
Appomattox and some history of the Renan Community including how the region was at one time called
Canada-land. Mary Ann Brumfield described how members of several families from the area including the
Towler, Butcher, Brumfield and Dove families moved to Illinois after the Civil War. Part of the interview
consisted of the Brumfields visiting some of the tobacco barns on the farm and describing some of the
memories they had working at the barns.
Shirley and Emmett Dalton Jr.
Shirley Dalton and her husband, Emmett Sr. (deceased) grew
tobacco for many years on a farm east of Gretna, Virginia. This
interview was completed at Shirley Dalton’s house with her son,
Emmett Jr. They did not want to be videotaped but agreed to be
audiotaped.
The Dalton’s showed many images of their family working in
tobacco including some of the Mexican migrant workers that they
hired over the years. They described hiring the migrant workers in
the 1980s as well as other “modern” tobacco farming practices such as how they used bulk barns rather
than log barns. They described how the bulk barns were delivered completely assembled but they had to
have a foundation prepared as well as electrical hook ups. Shirley described the bulk barns as being much
easier to use and how two of the popular brands were Powell and Roanoke. Before they acquired the
bulk barns, they used log barns but they only owned one log barn so they used nearby families’ barns
including the Rowles, Bosiger, and Burnett families.
The Daltons also described how they took part in the government buy-out. Emmett described how initially
families owned tobacco pounds or allotments so they could only produce a certain amount of tobacco.
Later, the government bought the allotments back.
The Dalton’s also described how they would rotate the fields and plant tobacco one year, then beans and
then wheat in the following years so the soils would be replenished with the right nutrients. They also
described the historic Rockford School that they own, some of the previous teachers from the school, the
spring- Rockford Spring- where the students got water and an “Indian” camp near the spring.
Marvin Collie
Marvin Collie is an elderly tobacco farmer from the Ringgold community of
Pittsylvania County who grew many acres (up to 300) of tobacco for many
years. This interview was conducted at his house on Marvin Collie Road.
Mr. Collie was a tobacco farmer his entire life and his parents were also
tobacco farmers.
He described using log tobacco barns until the 1970s when he started to
use bulk barns. He described log barns being at his “home place” which is
not far from where he currently lives, how the neighbors and family members would get together and
make the barns and how each tobacco leaf was considered precious and how they would pick up any that
fell.
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Claude Reynolds
Claude Reynolds lives on a farm in Callands, Virginia that was a
tobacco farm for many years. Mr. Reynolds described working on
the farm until he was nineteen. He moved away to work in a naval
shipyard for many years and returned in the 1990s. Mr. Reynolds
described five curing tobacco barns on the farm and four pack
houses. Mr. Reynolds described various types of tobacco,
including red and green tobacco and dead tobacco. He also
described taking the tobacco to Danville to the market.
During the interview, Mr. Reynolds walked around his tobacco barns describing the various wood types
used for the logs, how the tier poles were placed inside the barns, chinking and daubing the barns and
corner notching. He also described the other farm buildings on his farm including the smokehouse, the
cow barn and chicken houses.
Norman Hardy
Norman Hardy is an elderly tobacco farmer from the Mount Herman
Community, northwest of Danville, Virginia. The interview with Mr.
Hardy was held in his house in Mount Herman. Mr. Hardy described
building tobacco barns and how he helped build one in one day with
his neighbors and family. He described how they used skid poles to
push the logs up and how he did some corner notching on barns.
Other memories Mr. Hardy discussed were how the women in the
family would make a large dinner for everyone after the barn raising,
how they used mules to pull the tobacco slides, how one of his barns burned down and how the pack
houses were built. The pack houses were not made of logs but were framed. One half of the pack house
contained a pit basement where the tobacco leaves were plced so they could be handled and not
disintegrate. Mr. Hardy discussed how the older people were good at grading the cured tobacco, carrying
tobacco to Danville’s warehouses by wagon, and how at times he went to Goldsboro, North Carolina to
sell tobacco to try and make more money from the crop.
He also described spending the night at the barns while the tobacco was curing, how wagons would get
bogged down on certain roads that were prone to flooding. He also related a story about a sharecropper
he knew who killed a farmer he was working for and how Mr. Hardy was deputized to help the police find
him. The man hid in a tobacco barn but was eventually caught and jailed. Mr. Hardy also described his
memories of playing baseball for a local baseball team.
Anderson and Elizabeth Jones
Anderson and Elizabeth Jones live east of Chatham on a
tobacco farm that Anderson’s family has owned for many
generations. This interview was conducted in their house at
the farm. Anderson described how he was born on the farm
in 1939 and how his family grew tobacco. He described the
phases of cultivating tobacco-growing the small plants in a
planting bed in January, pulling the suckers off the plants,
pulling the leaves after they were ripe, stringing the tobacco
on sticks, curing the leaves in the barns, separating the
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leaves and taking it to the market. He described how he could do almost everything by the time he was 14
or 15 years old.
He also described at time when he was 14 and his father was sick but they had two hogs that had to be
killed. His mother wanted to get a neighbor to kill the hogs but Anderson shot and bled the hogs before
his mother could get a chance to contact the neighbor. He described how his parents were shocked that
he was able to do that at so young an age.
Mr. Jones also described the self sufficiency of his family and how they had to learn how to do almost
everything on the farm. He said they had a car and when it broke down; his father would not take it to a
garage but would buy the new part from the auto shop and repair it himself.
Mr. Jones also described how his father’s tobacco acreage was decreased by government farming officials
because they determined that the family did not have enough people to cultivate the acres they owned.
Mr. Jones disputed this and said even though they did not hire anyone to help them; his family was
always able to do the work themselves. Eventually the acreage they were allowed to grow tobacco was
so low that he and his siblings had to work outside the farm in order to make enough money.
Anderson explained that he attended Northside High School in Gretna before desegregation and their
books were the discarded books from the local white schools. He also discussed how he was involved in
farming education in school and how he and his classmates were called “New Farmers” rather than
“Future Farmers” as the white students were.
Mr. Jones described how his mother and father taught him that if he was good to people and was
respectable that good things would happen to him. He also reiterated how his father told him that
whatever job he did that he should do it better than anyone else and by doing that, he would get
recognized. Mr. Jones said he always heeded his parents’ advice and their guidance has always been
accurate in his life. Mr. Jones also recollected how his father told him many years ago not to smoke
because he thought the chemical fertilizers were not healthy for people and he preferred to use only
organic fertilizers.
Mr. Jones explained how he moved to New York because he had limited resources in Virginia. He was not
able to get hired at various factories in the Pittsylvania County-Danville area. When he was hired he also
had to clean the bathrooms every night before he left.
Ms. Jones described how she and Anderson met in New York City while they were both working in the
city. Ms. Jones is originally from a farming family in Spartanburg, South Carolina but they moved to New
York to find better jobs. She described visiting the farm and the town of Chatham every year with Mr.
Jones. She and Anderson would spend a month each summer visiting his family and during this time, Mr.
Jones would plant tobacco for his father.
Ms. Jones described taking photographs of the farm and taking them back to New York. She was a teacher
in a public school and everyone would love to see the pictures of the creeks with fish, the tobacco barns
and the fields. She described how she and Anderson enjoy being a part of nature, taking care of the farm
and how much they both love the land. Being a former teacher, she said it is important to teach children
how to grow their own food. She also described how she is a big proponent of small farms and organic
farming.
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Aubrey Jay Nuckols
This interview was conducted at Whitefalls Farm in Mt. Airy, Virginia
owned by Aubrey Jay Nuckols and his family. His several times great
grandfather, Edmund Fitzgerald, bought the farm from Hanes Morgan Jr.
in 1803. The current house was built in 1828. It was the second house
built on the farm, the first house burned down. Mr. Nuckols is part of the
sixth generation that has lived on the farm. The farm was a tobacco farm
up until 2006 when A.J. stopped growing tobacco.
There are six tobacco barns on the farm, two of which are likely the
earliest barns Preservation Virginia observed as part of the architectural survey of tobacco barns in 2013.
One of these barns is of log construction and the other is a wood framed barn. They were both originally
used as curing barns and both have six rooms rather than the typical four or five rooms.
Mr. Nuckols described how both barns held 1200 sticks of cut tobacco, much more than other tobacco
barns. The barns were used during the time when famers cut the entire tobacco stalk off and hung it on
sticks to cure. This was before priming or pulling the leaves individually became the normal way to harvest
tobacco. Mr. Nuckols estimated that it was around 1920 that farmers stopped cutting the entire stalk and
started pulling each leaf.
These two barns also have three fire boxes rather than the usual two and originally both of the barn’s
roofs were taller and wider than they are now. In the 1930’s, his Grandfather cut the top roof poles to
lower the pitch and make the barns shorter so a tin roof could be installed. Before that, the roofs were
made of wood shingles.
Mr. Nuckols described how both of the barns’ uses changed over the years. The log barn was also used as
a prizery. Prizing is the term used to describe packing tobacco leaves tightly into a hogshead. The wood
frame barn was converted into a pack house at some time in the early 1900s. At that time a floor was
added and a pit basement was dug out underneath the barn to get the leaves in “order,” or make them
pliable enough to handle after they had been cured. The wood frame barn was constructed with wood
mortise and tenon joints, just like his house. This barn was the only barn observed during the
architectural survey that was built using wood mortise and tenon joints.
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