Neptune Rating

Dale and Darcy Cahill's second book Tobacco Sheds: Vanishing Treasures of the Connecticut River Valley collects the oral history of tobacco workers in the Connecticut Valley. The book, full of gorgeous pictures, focuses on the people who work so hard to grow and cure some of the world’s most beautiful tobacco leaves. In recent years, over one thousand tobacco sheds have disappeared from the "Tobacco Valley." This important book systematically catalogues tobacco sheds from Putney, Vermont, to Portland, Connecticut, a span of just over one hundred miles. The photographs capture the beauty of these unique farm buildings and serve as a valuable record for these endangered barns. The text offers the agricultural history of each town, helping to connect sheds to their own unique region of New England. In addition, the book reinforces the need for preserving one of New England’s most unusual farm structures. Many sheds in the Connecticut River Valley are still used to dry tobacco leaves that will wrap some of the world’s most expensive cigars, but, sadly, some are being left to slowly deteriorate over time or are being torn down to make way for development. This book will be treasured by cigar smokers and architectural historians and preservationists alike.