THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 9, 1995 TAG: 9504070215
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: COURTLAND LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
Peanuts are important in Southampton County.
A newly opened peanut shelter at the Southampton Agriculture and Forestry Museum offers visitors a peek into the industry. It features machinery and tools that take legumes from the ground up.
William Howell, museum chairman, said many pieces of equipment pertaining to peanut harvesting were brought out of storage. Almost all came from local farms, most of them victims of age and neglect.
``People let 'em sit, and the wheels rot,'' Howell said. ``They were kept under shelters or in the woods. Nothing was done to them. We bring 'em in and get rid of the rust.''
Cleaned, and ready for the public, are wagons, tractors, shellers, and pickers. There is room for more, and more is on the way.
Everything on display is explained on cards in front of each item - dates of use, purpose, place of manufacture and so on.
One of the thinnest items looks like a glorified 150-year-old stick, something that was used to dig up the most stubborn peanuts, those that would not come up via conventional means.
Three conventional peanut pickers take up a lot of space in the shelter. They are a 1937 Benthall, a 1940 Roanoke ``and,'' Howell said, ``a 1942 Frick - the Cadillac of peanut pickers.''
That is the only item on display that did not come from Southampton County. It came from Sussex County.
Some of the diggers on display were pulled by tractors, others relied on real horsepower.
At the shelter opening, Bobby Cobb handled the ribbon-cutting honors, a tribute to a county native who has worked the peanut fields most of his life.
``We're trying to re-create and preserve the things used on our farms up to the mid-1940s,'' Howell said. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
William Howell, museum chairman, left, and Bobby Cobb man the peanut
shelter at the Southampton Agriculture and Forestry Museum. On
display are machinery and tools that take peanuts from the ground
up. by CNB