Renovations
Tobacco Pack House
One of the many selling points of the farm was the historical (likely pre-1900) two-story tobacco pack house that stands near the farmhouse. Even before purchasing the farm in fall 2021, Rebecca had visions of how to use it! Then reality hit and the amount of work and money needed to make it safe for use made us hit pause...until we found the right contractors to help us renovate it. While biding our time we did have some minimal work done on the tobacco pack house to help prevent further deterioration: its north-side sill plate, connecting floor joists, main roof, and east-side shed roof were replaced and a gutter was added. In addition, Rebecca cleaned out the incredible amount of junk that was left on the second floor, letting the pack house breathe again. We were overjoyed to find the right contractor in fall 2024 who literally laid the foundation for the rest of our renovation work. Shortly thereafter, Rebecca started on repairing the window and doors and repairing and replacing the wood siding. She left as many original boards as possible, replacing only what was necessary (which, in some cases, was a whole lot). She completed the south side in 2024, then completed the other sides in 2025. The remaining single-hung window and Greek Revival style door (probably original to the house but retrofitted to the pack house) each took days of intricate work and Rebecca’s quite proud of the final useable products, quirky though they still are.
Tobacco Drying Barn
An old ax-cut log tobacco-drying barn stands in the farm's woods. This structure has native clay chinking, v-notch log joints, and incredibly tight rings in its oak and pine logs. V-notching is one of the oldest forms of notching used in this region. Our current working hypothesis is that this barn dates to the 1880s, but it could potentially be older and there's a slight chance it was a residential cabin prior to being a tobacco drying barn. We plan to count log rings at some point to get a better idea of its age...In the 1950s, Mr. Hill grew tobacco and retrofitted this old drying barn with oil-fed heaters and wood tobacco-hanging frames. Our neighbor remembers climbing up in this barn to hang tobacco leaves as a teen, and also helping Mr. Hill prepare tobacco in the pack house!
The lower logs and much of the north side of the barn have rotted despite the addition of tar paper (probably in the 1950s) to try to protect the logs, and the building was twisted and leaning. In late winter 2026, Lynco Restoration and Design LLC helped us stabilize this important piece of the farm's early history! We bolted cleats to sturdy logs in each corner then jacked up each corner in turn and removed the lower rotted logs. Now the building is level and can sit for some months before we build new stone foundation pillars and insert new logs. What an interesting process to be part of!
