How the Tobacco Culture Was Introduced into Pitt County We have been hearing more and more lately about the future development of Greenville’s historic Tobacco District. Developers have been buying up buildings and land to put up apartments and businesses. It is beginning to sound as if the whole area, when developed, will become a destination point with shops, galleries, museums, restaurants, and studio apartments. While other places across the country have saved their past and made it into an economic draw, there has been a trend across North Carolina, beginning in the 1990’s, like 1960’s, to “erase, remove and cover up the past.” Like other great places, we need to save our architecturally interesting old tobacco factories and readapt them into thriving places. Greenville has tragically lost the massive Imperial Tobacco Company building to arson; but there are other large tobacco factories of great character left to save. Then there are other people who want to bull-doze the Tobacco District into the ground because tobacco is terrible and must be forgotten. People who are new to Greenville do not always understand the importance of our agricultural background and how it got us to the place we are to today. To honor tobacco in its place in our history is not condoning the use of tobacco, but recognizing it as an integral part of our cultural heritage. It is well known that the tobacco industry began in Pitt County in the 1880’s. In 1886, Dr. J. T. Sledge, Pitt County Superintendent of Health, sold a locally made cigar called “Greenville’s Future,” said to be the best 5 cent cigar in town. Tobacco was certainly Greenville’s future. Because of tobacco, Greenville grew rapidly, becoming a thriving commercial and cultural center in eastern North Carolina. This “Golden Weed” changed the face of Greenville by bringing financial prosperity and opportunity to its city and rural inhabitants. Tobacco money raised the standard of living for the average farmer, expanded business, and helped build the University, hospitals and schools in Greenville. Looking back in history, tobacco was used as currency in the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1791, the General Assembly of North Carolina named Greenville as a tobacco inspection station on the Tar River. Tobacco soon lost its value as currency and it was stopped being grown. Many years later, several attempts were made in Pitt County to again grow tobacco commercially. As early as 1851, Dr. Noah Joyner tried to raise a crop of “Persian tobacco” on his farm near Falkland. What crop he made he had turned into cigars and over the years gave them out on special occasions. It wasn’t until the mid 1880’s that the story of Pitt County’s tobacco industry truly begins. In the summer of 1885, Leon F. Evans of Pitt County was traveling in Nash County, NC. He noticed that a few of the farmers up there were planting tobacco and asking around found that it was a paying crop. He noticed, too, that the land was very much the same nature as Pitt County. While there he met and befriended Mr. J. T. Seat of Granville Co., NC who was then overseeing a tobacco farm near Rocky Mount. They both became warm friends and after Mr. Evans returned home he induced Mr. Seat to come to Pitt County to teach people to raise tobacco. Mr. Evans said he could get together a tobacco club since he believed that Pitt County could produce equally as fine tobacco as Nash County. On the appointed day Mr. Evans met Mr. Seat in Tarboro, NC, and took led him to his home in Pitt County. Mr. Evans announced through the community that Mr. Seat would be at the home of A. A. Forbes on a certain night and would like to confer with all the farmers in the vicinity who were interested in tobacco culture. At the appointed time the following men met and contracted with Mr. Seat for his help the ensuing year: A. A. Forbes, Leon F. Evans and Jacob Joyner agreeing to plant 8 acres and pay Mr. Seat $100.00 each and G. F. Evans and T. J. Stancill to plant 4 acres each and pay $50.00. After Mr. Seat had returned to Nash County to wind up his affairs, some of the men became dissatisfied with their bargain and instructed Leon F. Evans, who was acting as their leader, to write to Mr. Seat not to come back. Apparently Mr. Seat didn’t receive the letter and appeared at the appointed time. So, by being forced to continue by a point of duty, the men planted the first crop of tobacco of any consequence planted in Pitt County. The next thing in order was the building of tobacco curing barns. The first one was built in February 1886 by Jacob Joyner and followed soon after by four curing barns built by Leon F. Evans. Jacob Joyner’s barn was a tall frame structure lathed and plastered and sixteen feet square each way. It was remembered that while the plastering was still soft, Mr. Seat walked to the opposite wall from the door and with his forefinger printed his initials of his name. These Pitt County pioneers in tobacco culture did not find it a very profitable crop the first year and while some of them were almost discouraged and out of the notion of planting any more, they continued to plant some tobacco every year since the first. The second year a few other neighboring farmers were enticed to plant a small crop and they met with fairly good success. The third year a good many farmers planted small crops in different sections and most all of them made good money out of it. The fourth year, 1890, there was probably a thousand acres planted in Pitt County and nearly everybody made more money out of their tobacco than any other crop. One of the early disadvantages of the early tobacco growers was that the product had to be carried long distances to markets to be sold. These early farmers in the Greenville area first carried their crops by wagon to markets in Henderson, Oxford and Wilson, NC. With the opening of the Wilson warehouse an outlet was made for our farmers to get rid of their tobacco close to home. Nearly every farmer that had planted any tobacco in 1890 increased his crop in 1891, besides numbers who had never planted any began cultivating it. So, in 1891 three thousand acres of tobacco was planted in Pitt County, but it turned out to be a bad crop. The heavy rains in July caused it to fire on the hill, but at this time the culture of tobacco had spread from the little community just above Greenville almost all over Eastern Carolina. Farmers had gone to the expense of making preparations and one poor crop did not discourage them. Though some reduced their acreage, a great many who had never planted before planted a few acres. The tobacco marketing situation changed when in June 1891, a stock company was organized in Greenville to build a tobacco warehouse. The first officers of the Greenville Tobacco Warehouse Company where R. J. Cobb, president; C. W. Priddy, vice-president; J. B. Cherry, treasurer; and J. L. Little, secretary. The company bought a neglected old pine and broom sedge field, considered almost worthless, on what is Ninth Street in Greenville. There on Sept. 23, 1891 the Greenville Tobacco Warehouse was opened for the sale of tobacco to large fan fare. It was that day that marked the beginning of a new era in the prosperity of the town and community. The next warehouse, the Eastern Tobacco Warehouse, was built in 1892 and was operated by O. L. Joyner and Alex Heilbroner. These were followed in 1895 by the Planters Warehouse built and operated by E. A. Moye and Ola Forbes. The fourth warehouse was the Star Warehouse built by C. D. Rountree, Wiley Brown and McG. Ernul and the fifth was the Farmers Warehouse. As the market grew, many more warehouses and factories appeared over the years and they placed Greenville up among the greatest tobacco marketing centers in the world. So, from the above story Leon F. Evans (1860-1940) has the honor of being the father of tobacco culture in Pitt County. He was the first to prove that it could be successfully raised here. By its introduction into Pitt County, tobacco was destined to raise the yoke of depression and demoralization from the shoulders of the then poor, mortgaged and dejected farmers of Pitt County. _________________________________________________________________ Get more out of the Web. Learn 10 hidden secrets of Windows Live. http://windowslive.com/connect/post/jamiethomson.spaces.live.com-Blog-cns!550F681DAD532637!5295.entry?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_domore_092008