Brooklyn Tobacco Factory

Brooklyn Tobacco Factory, also known as the Hightower & Barksdale Tobacco Factory, is a historic tobacco factory located at Brooklyn, Halifax County, Virginia. It was built about 1855, and is a two-story, brick building with a gable roof. It features brick chimney flues projecting above the metal sheathed roof. Also on the property are two contributing pack houses (c. 1880) and the ruins of a log house (c. 1855). The factory was designed and built by Dabney Cosby, Jr., son of the Jeffersonian workman, Dabney Cosby, Sr. The factory remained in operation until 1881.[3]

Brooklyn Tobacco Factory
Front and eastern side
LocationNorthern side of River Road, 0.25 mile east of the Jeremy Creek Road junction, at Brooklyn, Virginia
Coordinates36°40′46″N 79°8′43″W
Area3.9 acres (1.6 ha)
Builtc. 1855 (1855)
ArchitectDabney M. Crosby, Jr.
NRHP reference No.95001559[1]
VLR No.041-0259
Significant dates
Added to NRHPJanuary 22, 1996
Designated VLROctober 18, 1995[2]

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.[1]

History

The firm of Hightower & Barksdale began manufacturing plug chewing tobacco in 1855. The workforce was originally composed of slaves either belonging to the factory owners or hired from local planters. Hightower & Barksdale closed its operations in 1860, later to be briefly reopened in the early 1880s by Beverly Barksdale III and William Haymes.[4]

In 1994 Virginia "Ginger" Gentry acquired the long-abandoned factory and with her husband Mack set about saving the factory from further deterioration. They have carefully preserved the graffiti and stenciling as a record of the factory's fascinating history.[4]

The factory is listed in the Virginia Landmarks Register and in the National Register of Historic Places.[4]

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References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. "Virginia Landmarks Register". Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Archived from the original on 2013-09-21. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
  3. J. Daniel Pezzoni (August 1995). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Brooklyn Tobacco Factory" (PDF). Virginia Department of Historic Resources. and Accompanying photo
  4. "Brooklyn Tobacco Factory". www.gohalifaxva.com. Retrieved 2019-06-10.
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