The Barn

YanceyVillage Preservation's mission is to preserve protect, and promote Caswell County's rich history, of which the Yancey House, the Tobacco Barn, and Yancey's Law Office have played a major role since all three were on the property of Bartlett Yancey -- lawyer and educational reformer. We have selected, however, the tobacco barn, supposedly the largest in North Carolina, as the YanceyVillage Preservation logo.

According to NC Department of Cultural Resources, “[t]obacco has been an essential part of the state's economic and social history for three centuries. The leaf supported thousands of families for many generations and helped create cities, support universities, and build hospitals across the state. The traditional tobacco barn has long been symbolic of the crop's significance in Tar Heel life.

The last quarter of the 20th century has brought enormous changes in North Carolina's tobacco industry. One major change has been in the ways that farmers cure their tobacco. Modern bulk curing systems have made virtually every traditional flue-cure tobacco barn in the state obsolete, and the abandoned barns are rapidly disappearing.”