The nation's tobacco industry appeared to be riding the path to extinction as the number of farms harvesting the green, leafy plants plummeted in response to falling cigarette consumption nationwide.
Tobacco companies left Tobacco Row decades ago, but over the course of the past 20 years, the buildings have found new purpose as multi-use developments.
Jamie Raley's family has been farming in St. Mary's County, Md., since Abraham Lincoln was president, mostly growing tobacco. But with the drop in U.S. cigarette smoking over the past decade, tobacco no longer pays. So the Raleys cast about for something else that would keep them on the farm.
