Tobacco Collection Reflects Family’s Heritage

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Flat burlap pieces with burlap handles on each end were used on the farm, she says, to fold around plants before carrying them to the tobacco setter. Farm tools also include tobacco sticks, spears, and knives. In the Weston harvest, farmers cut the plant’s stalk with a knife or tomahawk, then slid the stalk onto a stake. Bundled stalks were then hung from barn rafters to cure naturally.

The Peppers’ collection is a tribute to another era.

“I have a cigar mold, tobacco cutters for chewing tobacco, many cigar boxes, an old snuff box used in stores long ago, smaller snuff boxes, cigarette rollers, tins and all kinds of packages, many with foreign brands,” Mary says. “I collect large advertising signs for tobacco products, and also have pipes, pipe cleaners, advertising lighters, a brass bull, the original advertisement for Bull Durham, clocks, and many other advertising gimmicks.”

Store signs and posters are very collectible. These include cigar, cigarette and snuff posters, not only illustrating products but also period styles in clothing and decor. Among Mary’s favorites: A sign featuring the first Chesterfield Girl, and another with the Marlboro Man. She has a huge Camel Cigarette box, a small American Indian statue promoting “Red Man” chewing tobacco, and hand-carved meerschaum pipes. Her varied collection preserves a unique heritage.

“A lot of people collect old tobacco baskets which were used to hold ‘hands’ of tobacco to be sold at the annual auctions,” she says. “Until recently, tobacco was tied into beautiful ‘hands,’ artfully arranged by grade on the baskets. Now it is pressed and put on pallets instead. A lot of people use the old baskets for decorative purposes in their homes and shops.”

Mary hopes to keep the history of traditional tobacco production alive: She’s working to create a permanent local display illustrating the impact of tobacco production and marketing on the historic town of Weston.

“My museum, small as it is, is the only one in this locality,” Mary says. FC

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