The Lancaster Virginia Historical Society (LVHS) recently announced the publication of Tobacco: The Crop of Early Lancaster County, by Lois Crane Williams.
The 44-page research study focuses on the culture, economy, and uses of tobacco in colonial Lancaster from 1651 to 1780.
Williams says, “Tobacco played a central role in the settlement and economy of colonial Tidewater Virginia. In the Rappahannock River region, following a century of growth, tobacco export levels for 1750 to 1755 reached about 83,000 hogsheads for the five-year period, with each barrel filled with around 1,000 pounds. By the eve of the Revolutionary…