Located alongside many highways, back country roads, and tobacco fields on farms throughout Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina; flue-curing tobacco barns are a recognizable structure on the landscape. The flue-curing barn has stylistically had minimal changes throughout its history, and most of these occurred due to regional climatic differences, material scarcity, and the advance of flue technology. While the “old” and “new” tobacco belts have developed during two different periods in the history of tobacco cultivation, the two areas are not strictly limited to one barn construction method. The construction techniques followed farmers as they moved throughout Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, and barns were built using available materials, and by using the most effective curing methods at the time. While a variety of barn types can be seen throughout the landscape, it is important to note that the two belts are known for different building types, the “old belt” being constructed of logs, while “new belt” barns were wooden frame buildings.
Early Flue-curing Tobacco Barns The first tobacco barns of the “old belt” are distinctly older than those of the “new belt”, and have some distinguishing building details. “Old belt” tobacco barns were constructed mainly of horizontal logs with heavy clay chinking. The chinking, is a mortar used to seal joints between logs, and is made of clay daubing and small pieces of split wood or stones. Log barns are constructed using various joining techniques including diamond, square, half-dovetailed, saddle, and V notches. The notching details show the work of the human hand, and demonstrate the skill needed in crafting these buildings to perform their job efficiently, to stand for a long time, and be strong enough to sustain the weight of the green tobacco leaves. The barn would either rest on the ground, or have a foundation constructed of bricks or fieldstone. These barns were short compared to the new barns, being only twelve (12) to sixteen (16) feet high at the eaves, and very few exceed sixteen (16) square feet in width. The building traditionally has a gabled metal roof, and the early tobacco barns have either pent roofs on the sides of the structure, or were located next to wooded areas to provide shelter from the sun, wind, and rain. The barns do not have a built floor, but rather a dirt floor, which was originally used in the heating process. In the first iterations of flue-curing tobacco, a masonry furnace was built along a perimeter wall of the barn, and the ground would have been dug into trenches to allow the heat to flow into the building. Eventually these trenches were covered with sheet iron, and the heat was moved through radiation into the barn and up to the vents located on the ridge. The sheet iron also kept smoke from reaching the leaves, and affecting the flavor. Technology continued to progress, and the trenches became elevated metal ducts which snaked through the building and brought the heat from an external furnace into the building and out through flues. The metal flues were more consistent in the “new belt”, as the technology followed the progression of tobacco cultivation into the new areas. Retrofit Flue-curing tobacco barns traditionally were modified as technology changed rather than building another barn for the new advancements. Farmers had a limited time in between the tobacco growing seasons to make repairs on the barns, so the fixes or improvements needed to be relatively quick, low-cost, and within the skill set of the farmer, laborers, and neighbors. The earliest furnaces were built out of mud and stone or bricks, and used wood as kindling. The stone or brick furnaces continued with the introduction of coal, but was not widely adopted due to high costs. The industrial revolution brought forth the concept of using metal as both a means of radiation of heat from the flues, but also as a material that could be used for a more reliable furnace. The furnaces would burn either wood or coal, but were considered a necessity for their ease of use, reliability, and requiring less maintenance after the curing season. The later modification of the furnace to burn oil, became popular for farmers because the new system saved in both the labor of gathering wood and the scarce supply of timber. The alterations to tobacco curing barns in many ways represents the growing demand for tobacco and the shift in tobacco culture which occurred requiring farmers to be more efficient with their time and resources. The scarcity of resources is a leading indicator for the new tobacco barn building type which sprung up as tobacco production spread south and east into the “new belt”. New barns in the “Bright Belt” The “new belt” of tobacco cultivation developed due to the response of farmers seeking to transition from cotton production to tobacco, and from farmers seeking out the soil which was deemed more suitable for growing the brighter tobacco. “New belt” tobacco barns are typically constructed as a wood frame building with wood board cladding attached to upright studs. The use of a light framing system over the heavy timber log construction is due to the lack of available resources in the new areas, larger trees would require a lot of effort and money to procure, so farmers moved away from this building style. Covering the wood cladding would be a layer of building paper covered with insulation board, and rolled roofing asphalt covered gravel is applied to the exterior in order to make the building airtight. Some barns were constructed with building paper such as Tyvek and a cladding layer on the interior and exterior walls to improve the buildings heat retaining property. For added insulation the barn can be retrofitted with various products including reflective coated Kraft paper, fire resistant cotton, fiber glass, rock wool, fiber board, and other insulation board. These barns are larger than those of the “old belt”, being sixteen (16) to twenty (20) square feet wide, with some reaching twenty-four (24) feet square, and eighteen (18) to twenty (20) feet high to the eaves. The wooden frame sits either on a poured concrete foundation, or on concrete blocks lifted off the ground. The concrete block foundations would either rest on a concrete slab, or directly on the ground depending upon specifications by the farmer. It is important that the foundation be high so that the sill and other building materials are not impacted by the hot furnace, flues or other heating units. A gable metal roof is used along with solid sheathing in order to reduce the extreme changes in temperature, and a ridge ventilator is added to reduce interference from outside winds with inside barn conditions. The “new belt” tobacco barns expanded the idea of covering the door and furnace by introducing a shed roof on either one, two, or all four of the sides. In some cases, gable roofs were constructed to connect two barns. These roofs were important for providing shelter from the rain, but also from the sun for the workers during the hot summer. The tobacco barns have a door located on the wall opposite of the furnace, the door is placed on this wall in order to avoid unwanted drafts when the door is opened. On the interior of the barns, there are tier poles or horizontal members which are used to hold the sticks that hold the tobacco leaves during curing. The tier poles are run one above the other with a space of twenty-two (22) to twenty-six (26) inches between each pole, and four (4) feet horizontally in order to allow the workers to climb up and place the sticks of tobacco on the tier poles. The tier poles would begin six (6) to nine (9) feet above the barn floor to allow tobacco to be hung on the bottom tier, without the interference from the flues and the workers moving through the barn. While wood framing was the most common practice, there are some examples of different materials that were used including brick, stucco, and concrete blocks. These methods were used to try and facilitate a sturdier, airtight, and efficient heating barn, however the expense of the barns limited their popularity for many farmers. Once the practice for constructing the wooden flue-curing tobacco barns was in place, this method continued for many years with very little changes in iteration. The structures built worked efficiently, and as many farmers discovered over their lifetime, “if it ain't broke, don't fix it”. This mentality is what helped prosper the tobacco barn and helped it to find a lasting impact place on the agricultural landscape. Unfortunately for these barns, technology once again saw much improvement and industrialization, and a more modern and formulated barn became standard on many farms. Bulk Barns and the Future of Tobacco Barns The mechanization of tobacco production in the last quarter of the twentieth century brought along a new method for curing tobacco with the use of a bulk barn. A bulk barn is a manufactured metal box which can be sealed up to provide an airtight compartment in which tobacco can be cured more efficiently and more evenly. Bulk barns were adopted pretty rapidly within the tobacco belts, and quickly put flue-curing tobacco barns out of service. Bulk barns were prefabricated and required no construction by the farmers. The bulk barns are relatively inexpensive to purchase, maintain, and operate. They are efficient in curing as the barns are airtight and easy for farmers to operate in that the temperatures were much easier to regulate than traditional flue-curing barns. It is therefore no surprise that the progress of tobacco curing methods is one of the contributors to the lack of attention given to these barns from individuals who do not understand the craft, skill, labor, community, and culture that historic flue-curing tobacco barns represent. Flue-curing tobacco barns are an antiquated heirloom on the landscape among many farms and scenic roadways, these structures value go beyond the materials which are used, and extend into the culture and lives of the American tobacco grower. It is very important then that tobacco barns are saved or documented properly so that the beliefs, values, and traditions associated with the barns can continue on even after the materials are withered away or the barn is removed from the landscape References:
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