Abandoned Tobacco Sheds

The Ontario tobacco belt is the growing region located in Norfolk County and eastern Elgin County in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The region is close to the north shore of Lake Erie, with a moderate climate and sandy, silt-loam soils that are well-suited to a wide variety of crops. After tobacco is removed from the field it is hung and air dried in a small barn or shed. This curing process makes the tobacco light, and fragrant and with a high nicotine content. Typically tobacco growers place the harvested tobacco in small barns on the farm itself. There still remain quite a number of tobacco farms in the area. More modern and efficient sheds are used today. Finding the older drying sheds requires driving the back township roads around Norfolk County and eastern Elgin County. (Teeterville, Ontario, Canada)