46-year-old Bales of Cotton

04 Jan 46-year-old Bales of Cotton

October 9, 1937

46-year-old Bales of Cotton

B.B. Gilbert of Fayetteville had two bales of cotton that was ginned in 1891. It was an oddity to have them after 46 years, still wrapped in the original white cotton bagging, so The Atlanta Constitution wrote an article that the bails were sold to Redwine Brothers for 9 cents a pound “with the expressed hope that the new owner will keep it as long as I have”.

One of the bales weighed exactly the same as when ginned in 1891, but the other had lost weight. Both bales were claimed to be perfectly preserved.

Presently the Fayette County Historical Society are now in possession of the bales, which are now about 129 years old! Both cotton bales are at the Minter Farm in the Cotton Gin barn near the rear of the property.

Sources: Atlanta Constitution 10, October 1937

By Angela Pendleton