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Farmers, family say good-bye to local tobacco auction 

Lewis Brinley Jr., stood with his hands in his pockets staring out at an almost empty tobacco warehouse floor Thursday morning.

In 1945, he was there when Big Burley Warehouse was erected and Thursday he was there to see its last sale.

As a night watchman, Brinley, whose farm surrounds the tobacco warehouse, saw generations of Nelson Countians bring crops to the Bloomfield market. In its heyday Brinley remembers tobacco stacked as far as the eye could see with trucks and wagons waiting on the road to bring crops in.

A sign hanging above the Big Burley offices echoes his memories, "Pride in Tobacco 5,000,000 LBS., 1981-1982."

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