Welcome!
This website offers a glimpse into the rich history of the North Carolina Tobacco Industry, with a small focus on the Triangle area of the NC Piedmont. If you enjoy using this site or have suggestions about articles or pieces of information that should be included, you can go to the forums page here and leave your comment! Additionally, be free to share this link with family and friends in-person or on social media!
“Tobacco Road” is the nickname given to the Durham-Chapel Hill area of the North Carolina Piedmont for its substantial role in the marketing and sale of tobacco crops from all over the state for decades during the 20th century. North Carolina’s rich agricultural past made it a haven for the cultivation and harvest of tobacco, thereby providing economic growth and stability to Downtown Durham and the surrounding area.
The American Tobacco Historic District, located in Downtown Durham, offers visitors a view of where many mills and plants once stood for the creation of tobacco-based products such as cigars, cigarettes, pipe tobacco, etc. Home to Brightleaf Square and the former Liggett-Myers plant, a prospering community exists because of the economic growth sustained by the area during the mid-twentieth century.
About the Creator
Carter Hall is an undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill majoring in Statistics and Analytics. In an American Studies course during his freshman year, he came across resources within UNC’s Southern Historical Collection about tobacco in North Carolina and decided to pursue further research within the subject area for a course project. His family has farmed in Durham and Orange Counties for generations, a practice he hopes to shed light on with research on the production of tobacco in North Carolina over the past century.
