| Brooklyn Tobacco Factory | |
| Designated Other1: | Virginia Landmarks Register |
| Designated Other1 Date: | October 18, 1995[1] |
| Designated Other1 Number: | 041-0259 |
| Designated Other1 Num Position: | bottom |
| Coordinates: | 36.6794°N -79.1453°W |
| Built: | c. |
| Architect: | Dabney M. Crosby, Jr. |
| Added: | January 22, 1996 |
| Refnum: | 95001559 |
Brooklyn Tobacco Factory, also known as the Hightower & Barksdale Tobacco Factory, is a historic tobacco factory located at Brooklyn, Halifax County, Virginia. It was built about 1855, and is a two-story, brick building with a gable roof. It features brick chimney flues projecting above the metal sheathed roof. Also on the property are two contributing pack houses (c. 1880) and the ruins of a log house (c. 1855). The factory was designed and built by Dabney Cosby, Jr., son of the Jeffersonian workman, Dabney Cosby, Sr. The factory remained in operation until 1881.[2]
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.
The firm of Hightower & Barksdale began manufacturing plug chewing tobacco in 1855. The workforce was originally composed of slaves either belonging to the factory owners or hired from local planters. Hightower & Barksdale closed its operations in 1860, later to be briefly reopened in the early 1880s by Beverly Barksdale III and William Haymes.[3]
In 1994 Virginia "Ginger" Gentry acquired the long-abandoned factory and with her husband Mack set about saving the factory from further deterioration. They have carefully preserved the graffiti and stenciling as a record of the factory's fascinating history.
The factory is listed in the Virginia Landmarks Register and in the National Register of Historic Places.