Tobacco Valley

Name for a region along the Connecticut River in northern Connecticut, once a world centre for shade (wrapper) tobacco culture. Urban sprawl and changing economics have largely ended the business here, and it is now centred in the town of Granby (population (1990) 9,400) to the northwest, along the Massachusetts border.

East Windsor, South Windsor, and East Hartford were all important. The valley's fields were also known for other crops, especially potatoes, grown in rotation with tobacco.