LUSBY, Md. – Researchers from the Historic Preservation Program at the University of Maryland, College Park recently won a two-year grant award to document Southern Maryland tobacco barns built before the Civil War. Since then, researchers have contacted owners and have started conducting fieldwork. It’s possible that you have a piece of Calvert County history!
Tobacco was Calvert County’s predominant crop from its founding in 1654 up until the Maryland Tobacco Buyout in 1999. While the crops in the fields have changed in recent years, our agricultural history is preserved in the county flag, local memories and barns that remain standing across the landscape.
If you believe your tobacco barn may be over 150 years old and have not been contacted by the University of Maryland about documenting your barn, please reach out to Christopher Sperling, historic preservation planner at Christopher.Sperling@CalvertCountyMD.gov or at 410-535-1600, ext. 2504. Learn more about the University of Maryland project at www.today.umd.edu/structural-damage.
I love history and tobacco has been a part of it. But if the grant comes from tax payers,Then I’m against it.
Tobacco is a blight on society .
Port Tobacco is in Maryland, Charles county. Its been around since the 1600s. When did cigarettes break the $10 \ pack price barrier? Thats history. We tax our cigarettes at $2/ pack + maybe the cigarette tax is not posted, because silly reasons are good enough for some to stop smoking.
I recently saw a study that Tobacco use causes up to 400000 deaths in the United States alone and that is just the tip of the iceberg if you take into account world wide deaths attributed to Tobacco. It is time to stop glorification of the Tobacco culture considering the millions of deaths that is from direct result of Tobacco use.
I purpose that Calvert County needs to consider redesign of there county flag that glorifies there dark Tobacco legacy and REMOVE the Tobacco leave from the country flag!
Who gave out the grant?