In this clip from Iler Mae Alleys 8 mm home movies, we see members of the Alley family picking cotton in Deerfield, western Lawrence County, in the mid-1960s. Although Lawrence County has never been a huge bastion of cotton production like the counties of West Tennessee, some cotton has been cultivated in Lawrence County for almost two centuries. In 1839, when Lawrence County was still predominantly in virgin timber, the county produced 12,443 pounds of cotton (compared to more than 316,000 bushels of the countys then-top producing crop, Indian corn, which was no doubt grown in such bulk to feed the 28,000 hogs living in the county that year). By 1909, however, when an influx of Alabamians had begun to clear the southern portion of the county and plant cotton in greater quantities, some 276,000 pounds of cotton was grown and harvested in Lawrence County. Many readers will remember when Lawrence County schools closed for cotton picking vacation, so that the countys students could help harvest their familys cotton. Today, our schools havent dismissed for cotton-picking vacation in decades, and, according to the USDA, Lawrence Countys 1,500 farms produce very little of the states cotton, with most Tennessee cotton production still centered in the states fertile northwest corner. What are your cotton-picking memories? When was the last time you recall picking cotton? How much money could you earn picking cotton? When was the last time you got out for cotton-picking vacation? Who could pick the most cotton in your neighborhood? Let us know in a comment.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 02:07:58 +0000