Description

Living history interpreters at Henricus Historical Park will demonstrate the 17th century origins of Virginia tobacco. Learn what early tobacco plants looked like and how it was cultivated. They will demonstrate what the Powhatan tribes did with their strains of tobacco compared to the English. Discover how the Spanish seeds produced a sweet tasting product and in what ways those cash crops were intended to bring big profits from a medicinal cure and a recreational indulgence. Experience the divisions within the English society on the medicinal ineffectiveness, moral decay, and possible ungodliness of smoking what King James I called a "filthe custome." Children are encouraged to assist in the tobacco plantation labors of mounding, work picking, and hauling water in addition to other tasks.

Location

-Henricus Historical Park at Henricus Park