I never really associated New England with growing tobacco. However, driving through the Connecticut River Valley in Massachusetts, I’d seen some really interesting barns with vents on the side. Often there would be two or three of them in a field. They had such an interesting look to them. I discovered they were tobacco sheds. It turns out that the Connecticut River Valley grows the ideal types of tobacco for the binder and outer wrapper for cigars. After the leaves are harvested, they have to be slowly dried. Hence, the barns with vents in them. The leaves are hung in these barns to dry. Earlier this summer, I took some exterior photos of tobacco sheds but I really wanted to see the inside of one and make some images there.

With a bit of online research, I discovered the Connecticut Valley Tobacco Museum in Windsor Locks, CT. It is in two buildings. One is an archive building that holds records and has a small museum on the history and process of growing tobacco in the Connecticut River Valley. The other building is a tobacco shed. Inside are tractors, displays of farm equipment and drying tobacco leaves. Tobacco was a huge part of the local community and everyone was involved. One display described sending children out in the field to pick weeds and thin plants with their small hands. Cultivating shade-grown tobacco is quite a process because coverings of cheesecloth need to be hung above the plants so that they are shaded. The harvesting process was also done by hand with the leaves placed on sticks to be hung in the sheds.

The museum is located in Northwest Park, which is a former tobacco farm. The park itself is beautiful with nice trails and other buildings used for more displays. There is a petting barn filled with children’s favorite farm animals. Check the museum’s website if you plan to visit. http://www.tobaccohistsoc.org The shed is open seasonally on Saturdays. You can also call to arrange tours. It’s an interesting place to visit. We were glad we detoured and stopped. Children can enjoy the tails and animal barn. For you photographers out there who want a new location for doing portraits or a photoshoot, the park is a beautiful setting.

This weekend, Portsmouth, NH is hosting the US Coast Guard Cutter Eagle. It’s a ceremonial ship. They don’t use it for rescues on the high seas or stopping drug dealers. It represents both the USCG in general and our country when visiting other nations. I really wanted to try to get some nice images as I’ve done when other tall ships visited Portsmouth. The problem is that while other ships had docked at a very accessible pier that was wonderful for taking photos, the Eagle was docked at the State Pier which is behind a security perimeter and not very picturesque. The Coast Guard has to follow certain security guidelines. I wanted to take photos at sunset and when I arrived, the pier was closed to the public. Also, the ship was positioned next to a large pile of something under white tarps. The tarps really didn’t help the image.

Undaunted, I realized that the harbor is in a river. If I could find an access point on the other side of the river (in Maine), then I could get some shots. Using satellite images from Google Maps, I saw that most of the Maine side of the river was occupied by private homes. It’s not a good practice to go into people’s yards. But there seemed to be one spot with a dirt lot that wasn’t linked to a home. I walked across Memorial Bridge over to that spot. The lighting was not ideal and the only reason that the photo below is usable is due to some good editing software (Lightroom). The picture above was made as I was walking back to Portsmouth across the bridge. I saw the small boat in the foreground and snapped the picture. It’s a funny thing, The boat gives the image life and makes it interesting. I was going to make another image after the boat passed, but when I looked through the viewfinder, the same scene without the boat was really dull.