History of Tobacco in North Carolina and Morrisville

History of Tobacco in North Carolina and Morrisville. . Native Americans taught European settlers how to grow tobacco, a plant native to North Carolina, shortly after they arrived in the area. During colonial times, tobacco was North Carolina's most valuable export commodity, in part because of the unique soil. , Farmers traditionally harvested tobacco by cutting the stalks off at the ground, air curing it for about two months and then stripping the leaves to be packed into large barrels. In the early 1800s, farmers began picking a few ripe leaves of off each plant at a time, tying them to sticks, and hanging them in the rafters of the barn to dry. , By the 1840s, the process had evolved to include warming the leaves quickly to achieve a bright yellow color, known as the “golden leaf”. The golden leaf was best achieved with a special heated barn that closed tightly shut. , After the Civil War, changes to the tobacco curing process, a readily available workforce, and an increased market reshaped the area known today as the Research Triangle. , In Durham, a short journey by train from Morrisville and the Shiloh Community, large tobacco warehouses and manufacturing businesses grew quickly. In the late 1800s, as tobacco became increasingly popular, Shiloh's economy and the families and individuals who lived in the area prospered. , [Captions (clockwise from top right)] , . W.T. Blackwell's Durham factory, where the Bull Durham brand of tobacco was made from 1903 to 1957 , . First W. Duke, Sons and Co. tobacco factory built in Durham in 1883, with the Duke family home to the left. , . Patent diagram of the Bonsack Cigarette Rolling Machine, which launched the mass production of cigarettes and led Duke Tobacco on to a near complete monopoly of the tobacco industry in the early 1900s. , . James Buchanan “Buck” Duke 1856-1925 Notable for both his aggressive industrial monopoly of tobacco and his local philanthropy with North Carolina universities.