Potato Boys

Identifying the date, occasion, and individuals in an historic photograph is often a challenge. Marlene Moody Blalock has helped with the challenge of this image by identifying the teacher: J. Colvin Brown, Sr.

Mr. Brown taught vocational studies and agriculture for many years at Waynesville Township High School. Mrs. Blalock also recognized a student, John D. Plott (back row, third from the right). It is likely, then, that these boys are showing off the fruits of their agricultural studies, possibly sometime in the 1940s.

There is another possibility—that these boys are part of The Lord’s Acre program, started in the 1920s in the South. Churches, community development organizations, and farming programs like 4H asked members to set aside an acre of land to grow crops to help feed the poor. The most common crop was potatoes, which was often harvested by youth. In Haywood County, churches participated in The Lord’s Acre program in the 1940s and as late as 1950.

Can you help us discover more about this photo?

Photograph courtesy of Haywood County Historical & Genealogical Society