Tobacco Farming - Although the first settlers came to trade with the Indians, the hundreds who followed were drawn by Suffield's black earth. Tobacco grew well here and was the colony's legal tender in 1727. In 1820, thanks to one of the town's more enterprising merchants and an itinerant Cuban tobacco worker, Suffield became the site of the first cigar factory in the United States. Cigar making became so much a part of the town's economy by 1860 that 292 of 316 working farms were growing tobacco. Today, tobacco, as well as numerous other agricultural products, is still grown in Suffield.

Return to the previous page