The Brown Tobacco Warehouse Bell

By Doug Stegall

History in the weeds.

Melvin Parcell’s favorite hobby is making walking canes, When I visited him he gave me one and also wanted me to see his garden, especially his tomato plants which were about 10 feet tall. When we were leaving his garden he pointed out an old bell that was lying in the weeds. The bell was rather large and needed repairs.

He said no one in his family would want the bell and asked if there was anything I could do with it, knowing I collected anything that had to do with history. I thought it was just an old bell, but its history is special.

He explained the bell was used at the Brown Tobacco Warehouse in Martinsville. They rang the bell at the start of every tobacco sale. Then sometime around 1930 the warehouse was damaged by fire and the owners sold the bell to his father, Alfred Parcell, for a dollar. Mr. Parcell loaded it onto his horse and buggy and delivered it to his farm in the Sontag area of Franklin County. Then it was placed on a Locust post and used for a dinner bell. The bell also rang out when Revenuers were spotted in the area to alert whiskey makers in Chestnut Mountain to be on the lookout.

The only problem was the old farm mule never knew the difference between a Revenuer and dinnertime. Every time the bell sounded, Pete, the old white mule, would stop plowing and want to be fed.

Now this bell is a permanent part of our history. It was placed in the Martinsville-Henry County Heritage Center & Museum in memory of Alfred Parcell and in honor of his family.