Cooperative Living September 2015 - 33

Beth Coates, director of The
South Boston-Halifax County
Museum, remembers growing up
on a tobacco farm, training early
under the tutelage of her father,
who is now 88 years old. " At the
time, I thought Dad was trying to
kill me, " Coates recalls of hard
labor on the farm. " I started driving
a tractor when I was 5 years
old. Dad taught me how to work. "
She admits that South Boston's
tobacco heritage is not as
omnipresent as she would like,
noting that her own son once
thought when he saw a tobacco
field that the farmer was growing
cabbage. " You can only farm
tobacco now if you're a big-time
farmer, " she remarks.
Coates hopes to be a part of
bringing tobacco heritage back to
life. The museum is currently
working on a tobacco exhibit
scheduled to open before the end
of the year. The museum already
covers some of the region's tobacco
history, including an exhibit
on the local Slate Seed Company,
which, by 1916, produced 90
percent of the world's tobacco
seed. By 1907, South Boston was
selling over 13 million pounds
of tobacco annually.
Among the tobacco industry's
historic structures that have been
carefully preserved is the Export
Leaf Tobacco Building, which
today houses the Southern
Virginia Higher Education Center,
and the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco
Company Prizery, now home to
South Boston's acclaimed local
theater.
Despite its modern status as
theater and arts center, The
Prizery's history is well-preserved,
the main floor of the building
showcasing a tobacco press, where
leaves were " prized " into 1,000pound
hogshead barrels for
shipping. The Prizery's managing
director, Alison Streeter, tells me
that between 1907 and the 1960s,
all of Halifax County's tobacco
came through this building, which
re-opened in 2005 as a community
arts center following a $7
million renovation.
September 2015/www.co-opliving.com
The South BostonHalifax
County
Museum (right) and
director Beth Coates
(below). Coates hopes
to be a part of bringing
tobacco heritage back
to life. The museum is
currently working on a
tobacco exhibit scheduled
to open before the
end of this year.
The Prizery (left) is now home to South Boston's
acclaimed local theater. Alison Streeter and Chris
Jones (above) are the managing director and artistic
director of The Prizery. The Prizery's main floor
includes a tobacco exhibit (above, middle right),
including a tobacco press, where leaves were " prized "
into 1,000-pound hogshead barrels for shipping.
GET OUTDOORS ...
Not far from Norfolk Southern's track
and the South Boston depot, one can walk,
bike, or horseback ride an abandoned section
of the Class I line's track, formerly part
of the Richmond and Danville Railroad,
along the Tobacco Heritage Trail. The
trailhead begins at Cotton Mill Park just
below The Prizery and off Railroad Avenue.
Adjacent to the trailhead are two crumbling
brick towers, the last remains of the
old Halifax Damask cotton mills. (But don't
expect these historic structures to remain
here much longer; the town of South
Boston is looking to demolish them given
they have no money to restore them.)
As you walk this wooded 2.5-mile trail,
you'll see an old sluice gate, a duck
impoundment, and the Diamond Hill Slave
Cemetery while also enjoying views of the
Dan River. The trail ends at Berry Hill
Plantation. For more information, visit
tobaccoheritagetrail.org.
31
http://www.tobaccoheritagetrail.org
Cooperative Living September 2015

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