Hubie’s Place

Description

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Years ago, as Labor Day drew near, columns of wood smoke from thousands of curing barns would appear in the southern skies as the new crop of tobacco was harvested and dried for the auction block. The farmers would sleep in sheds next to the barns in order to tend the fires and maintain an even heat around the clock.

Dempsey with Hubie Stafford

When Dempsey Essick first heard about Hubie Stafford, a Guilford County, North Carolina farmer who still cures tobacco in the old way, he knew that.it might be his only chance to capture a scene that has almost disappeared from the rural landscape. Hubie is perhaps the last of the breed. He is over eighty years old and still clings to the tried and true methods of farming he learned as a boy.

In “Hubie’s Place,” Dempsey has captured the feel of a September morning near the end of the harvest season. Hubie’s handmade quilts, being aired in the soft sunshine, add a touch of color to a picture dominated by the rusty brown of the barn roof and the weathered, hand hewn logs of the building itself.

Dempsey has pictured Hubie at his favorite curing-time diversion, sitting in front of the shed where he spent the night, whittling on a tobacco stick, while his old dog relaxes nearby. An early drop of leaves from the oak tree marks the last tranquil days of summer and the approach of autumn which is just over the horizon.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]