Brianna Dunlap, author of the new book, Connecticut Valley Tobacco, a museum professional at the Connecticut Valley Tobacco Museum in Windsor since 2013 and a recent graduate from Central Connecticut State University with a Masters in Public History, will be in Suffield on Sunday, November 13th to talk about her book and to sign copies which will be for sale. Suffield played and still plays a prominent role in the history of tobacco growing and, as many of you may know, was the site of the first commercial cigar factory in the country. (Find the marker on Ratley Road just south of Spruce Street.) Many of us remember when acres of Suffield were covered with tobacco cloth for the growing of fine shade tobacco which was used as cigar wrappers.
Brianna will be at West Suffield’s Academy Hall (1499 Mountain Road) on the 13th at 2:00 p.m. Her visit is sponsored jointly by the Kent Memorial Library and the Suffield Historical Society. Her book is well worth reading and features photos, many in color, by Windsor native and well-known photographer Dr. Leonard Hellerman who has an impressive collection of historical agricultural pictures he has taken over many years.