An old barn on the family farm of A.J. Nuchols in Pittsylvania County is a good example of tobacco structures that are still standing. Built in the early 19th century, the barn is frame-built with ...

It is places like curing barns – hot, sweaty, enclosed, and surrounded by tobacco – where people get really sick. His 17-year-old son, he added, has also vomited while working with tobacco.

Sebastian Mishoe listens to his grandfather Lavern Brigman talk about working tobacco fields and getting the crop in the barn for curing at the L.W. Paul Living History Farm in Conway on Aug. 3, 2024.

The iconic Connecticut shade tobacco fields have been replaced by parking lots and warehouses as demand changed. Today, only ...

Joe Graves and his brother, Clark, have a 20 th century log-built curing barn at their Brandon-on-the-Dan farm in Halifax County.

By the time Starling came along, modular, metal, rack-bearing barns had replaced many of the old, high-gabled 20-foot-by-20-foot wooden barns for curing tobacco.

Modern bulk curing systems have replaced the ventilation systems tobacco barns once employed. Ventilation was a critical element in a tobacco barn’s design.

One day, Stephen fell asleep in the tobacco curing barn, succumbing to the warmth of the curing shed’s fire. Waking up he found the fire almost completely out.

"If we don't go ahead and get it out now, it's going to be worse." Before the storm, farmers had until the end of the month to get the tobacco leaves from the fields to the flue-curing barns.

It comes at a challenging time for the industry. According to the USDA Ag Census, there were 22,953 tobacco farms in 1992. In 2022, that plummeted to just 241 tobacco farms statewide.

It happens every year, around this time. Drivers see smoke billowing out of a barn and call 911. But what some call in as an emergency, a Middle Tennessee farmer calls a way of life.