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Post by Brian on Jun 4, 2009 13:59:19 GMT -5
Hey Brian....if your mind is twisted then what do you call Maria's??......hehehehe Words cannot describe. ;D |
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Post by Brian on Jun 6, 2009 12:29:40 GMT -5
We stopped and took pictures of a tobacco barn that is right at the entrance to the cemetery. After opening the door (and after being startled by the scarecrow) I did some looking around inside the barn. I discovered the barn, rather than being just an empty storage room for tobacco, really has a bit of technology to it. Apparently, in order to sell your tobacco to Mr. Reynolds it had to be cured first.
Tobacco barns have a small foot print, but are rather tall. Overhead inside are poles that span from front to back. The barn we visited was somewhat modernized, having a tank outside to hold propane, connected to burners inside. When new tobacco is hung over the poles and the burners are lit, the heat will cure the tobacco. I'm sure many of you already knew this, but I just recently figured it out, and there must be more I haven't figured out too.
In the old picture of Charlie's tobacco barn, where Carrie and Maybell were killed and left, it shows a big pile of wood in front. I had just assumed this was a scrap wood pile. It was not. Charlie's barn was not modernized. He had to cure his tobacco using a fire that burned wood. This woodpile was no doubt added to all year round. A close examination of the wood pile shows various types of wood; tree limbs, boards, sticks...anything that was wooden and would burn.
If you look closely at the barn, zooming in helps too, you can make out holes in the front on either side. The holes are surrounded by rocks. My guess is these are ovens. Once you start the fire wood can be added to keep the fire going by putting in through these holes. That way you don't have to go inside with the heat and smoke (and let heat escape) to stoke the fires.
If you look really closely at the peak of the roof there appears to be an opening. This would allow the smoke to escape and create a draft to help keep the fires burning.
There are also 2 holes on each side of the door. Its my suspicion those may have been caused by tourists wishing to take home a piece of the barn. They don't look like they would have been there originally.
OK, I'll stop now. I apologize to all you who knew all this already, and who know even more about this subject than I have yet to suspect. I like to examine things and figure out how they work. Does anyone know how long it takes to cure tobacco this way?
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Post by Angela on Jun 6, 2009 12:47:49 GMT -5
The only thing I know about tobacco is what you just now told me in your post!!! I remember when you and I went into that tobacco barn that day I was surprised at how narrow it was and further amazed at how tall or high up the rafters were.
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Post by Brian on Jun 6, 2009 15:53:40 GMT -5
Yes, I suspect they wanted to keep the heat concentrated so they made them narrow and high.
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