(Side 1):
Amsterdam, Georgia
In 1891, A. Cohn & Co. purchased 14,000 acres for tobacco cultivation and named it Amsterdam. At that time, the property was the largest tobacco plantation in the world under one ownership. In 1907, seven of the larger growers and packers in the area merged to form the American Sumatra Tobacco Co., with a division in Amsterdam. This was a company town with offices, railroad, commissaries, post office, packing houses and employee houses. At its peak, the town boasted a population of 450. The Imperial Tobacco Co. bought the A.S.T. Co. in 1955 and operated it until 1965 when they discontinued growing tobacco. In 1967 the land was sold to the Coastal Lumber Company.
(Side 2):
Shade Grown Tobacco
Cigar wrapper tobacco was grown only in a small area of Georgia, Florida and the Connecticut River Valley from the 1840's to 1975. During the 1890's wooden arbors began to be used to make the leaves lighter and thinner. Later, cheese cloth tents were used to filter sunlight and keep insects out. After World War II, production was mechanized, but the cultivation of tobacco still remained one of the most labor intensive crops grown. With the extension of wage and hour to farm labor, costs rose to $7,000 per acre making the growing of tobacco economically prohibitive. Thus ended an era of nearly 150 years.
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