Tobacco Shade Museum

Tobacco Shade Museum: Preserving Havana History

In what was once known as the shade tobacco capital of the world, the Tobacco Shade Museum preserves Havana’s economic and social history. Free and enslaved people across Gadsden County built and expanded the tobacco industry. With the arrival of the railroad in 1902, the tobacco industry expanded substantially. The Tobacco Shade Museum pays homage to those that suffered in cruel working conditions. It also explores the industry’s pinnacle: roughly 6,000 acres around Gadsden helped produce nearly 95% of the nation’s shade tobacco.