bulking & Stripping audio interviews

Farmers Featured:

Harold Malcomb, Teresa Roberts, Myra Cooper Ayres, Dallas Stafford, Gary Hunter, Helen Bourne, David Lyons, Asa Phillips, Joy Morgan, Dallas Hamilton, and David Chappell.

Bulking and stripping tobacco is number five in the tobacco production process. Farm families knew they were getting close to seeing their yearly paycheck when they started stripping tobacco. Tobacco was bulked (thrown down out of the barn and stacked in piles). It was then carried into the stripping room, placed on the table and all the leaves were stripped from the stalk. Tobacco was commonly stripped in three grades determined by the quality of the leaves on the stalk. Leaves were tied into hands, placed on a tobacco stick and pressed by a wall press. Baling tobacco has replaced the wall press. Stripping usually started in October and lasted until all tobacco had been stripped.

This mural is located at the junction of US Highway 127 North and Eagle Hill Road.