Tobacco Barn, Suffield

Tobacco Barn, Suffield – Jerry Dougherty

Suffield, in Hartford County, is located on the west bank of the Connecticut River and borders Massachusetts. West Suffield Mountain, part of the Metacomet Ridge, runs through the center of Suffield from north to south. Originally called Southfield, it was settled as a township of Massachusetts in 1670 but later found to lie within the boundaries of the Connecticut Charter and was subsequently annexed in 1749. Suffield’s location on the river meant an early economy based on fisheries and shipbuilding, but tobacco soon became an important export. By the 1830s, the Connecticut Valley Broadleaf plant had been developed and the town’s factories began producing 14 million cigars annually.

More on Suffield from the CT Digital Archive

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Places

Suffield Historical Society. “King House Museum,” 2012. Link.
CT Landmarks. “Phelps-Hatheway House & Garden,” 2017. Link.
“Suffield Historical Society,” 2016. Link.
Farmington Valley Trails Council. “The Farmington Canal Heritage Trail,” 2016. Link.
Department of Energy & Environmental Protection. “Windsor Locks Canal State Park Trail,” 2017. Link.

Documents

Brown & Deen. “Advertisement: Brown & Deen’s Celebrated Sweet Scent Fine Cut Tobacco ...,” ca. -1844 1824. Connecticut Historical Society. Link.
L.P. Bissell. “Advertisement: Ragged Edge Cigars : L.P Bissell, Suffield Conn. Successor to Wm. B. Drake & Co,” n.d. Connecticut Historical Society. Link.
Connecticut State Library. “Digitized Historic Newspaper - Thompsonville Press,” 2016. Link.
“Suffield Collection.” Connecticut Digital Archive, n.d. Link.

Books

Sheldon, Hezekiah. Documentary History of Suffield in the Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay in New England, 1660-1749. Springfield,  MA: C.W. Bryan Company, 1879. Link.
Tavino, Laurie. Suffield’s Old Bridge Neighborhood. Charleston,  SC: Arcadia, 2009.