The Fading Glory of Burley Tobacco

 

(Smoky Mountain News) This year, Bill Holbrook will start drawing on the “old man pension” — as this local tobacco farmer likes to refer to Social Security. At 66 years old, Holbrook is one of the older, if not the oldest, tobacco growers left in Haywood County.
Although looking at the spry, tanned farmer, you’d never guess it. He just finished a September of harvesting and now his 6-acre tobacco crop hangs curing in his old, wooden barn on his farm near Bethel.
Several weeks from now when the tobacco is ready, Holbrook and whoever he can hire to help him, will begin separating the leaves from the stalks and readying the crop for market. But, Holbrook, has to ask himself how many more seasons does he have left in him. He began working in the tobacco fields helping his father when he was 16. He remembers his grandfather cutting off part of a tobacco leaf to chew on while working on the farm. Continued