Thirty years ago tobacco barns were a common sight in western Massachusetts, where the topsoil was as deep as its history. The choice leaf produced there rivaled that which was produced in Cuba, and was exported to wrap the best Cuban cigars. Bottomland or floodplain, which nestled between the mountains and the river, was the most desirable. In spring the plowed earth had the color and texture of the finest chocolate.

arrowheads . . .
that point in the river
where fish come to spawn