Peanut Matters
American’s Favorite
“Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack; I don’t care if I never get back.” Does this sound familiar to you? That is the refrain from the song “Take Me To The Ball Game,” which you won’t miss during the baseball season. “Ballpark Peanuts” are sold hot at the baseball game, and their distinctive crunches have become an essential part of the American baseball experience.
A month away from the end of the major baseball league, this magic legume and the game companion finally get their turn to be celebrated on September 13th.
Fighting for Peanut’s Love
Americans’ favor for peanuts is not only reflected at baseball games. Their love for peanuts can also be found in naming their places. Suffolk in Virginia and Dothan in Alabama are both claimed to be the “Peanut Capital of the World.”
From the classic peanut soup (one of the fabulous southern cuisine), to the home of the Planter’s Mr. Peanut (a famous advertising icon), Suffolk has been entitled “Capital of Peanut” since the 1900s. On the other hand, Dothan’s annual peanut festival, its central geographic location, with peanut-shaped statues all over the town have made Dothan earn the fame of the “Peanut Capital of the World” too.
Cultivation of Peanuts
In the United States, peanuts are grown mainly in the South, where the climate is warmer and the growing season is extended. Most of the peanut crop comes from these three regions: the Southeast (Georgia-Florida-Alabama-Mississippi-Arkansas), the Southwest (Taxes-Oklahoma-New Mexico), and the Virginia-Carolina region (Virginia-Carolina-South Carolina). According to the National Agricultural Status (NASS), Georgia accounts for most peanut crops (over 50%). Yet considering peanut growing areas, Dothan is within a 100-mile radius of most of its production, well deserved as the Capital of Peanut.
Speaking of the cultivation of peanuts, George Washington Carver must be mentioned. Dr. Carver was an agricultural scientist and inventor who developed hundreds of products using peanuts (also sweet potatoes and other beans.) With a master’s degree in agricultural science from Iowa State University in 1896, he gained tremendous knowledge of soil chemistry. He noticed years of growing cotton had depleted soil nutrients, resulting in low yield. Growing nitrogen-fixing plants such as peanuts will help nourish the soil again.
Linger between peanut soup’s creamy texture and dense-typed history, Peanuts’ fascinating characters suddenly diverted our focus on studying the WELL standard:
“Supporting a healthy eating pattern by increasing nutritional knowledge and food literacy” — WELL N07, Nutrition Education
Today, we dedicate this card to all peanut farmers and agricultural scientists. Thanks to their dedication to growing nutritious crops that enriched the history and land.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — -
The Peanut Company at Suffolk, built in 1898, is a registered historic place. One significance of this building is that its architectural style was hugely influenced by the “Chicago Style” at the time. We can tell such impact from its rectangular massing, the flat roof, minimum ornamentation, large openings, and functional expression of the structure skeleton.
Of course, some building characters do not fit into a “typical” Chicago School Style. For example, this building does not obtain a “three-part window,” nor is it expressed as a “tall” building. But it has revealed the changing of building code at the time.
Why is it called “Chicago style”?
The Chicago Fire of 1871 gave builders stricter lines: the fire-proof structure. This structure frees the exterior wall from the conventional role as a load-bearing wall. Therefore, the fenestration was large, quite different from the traditional brick building with only arrays of tiny windows.
Also…
- A detailed history behind this place can be found on the National Park Service website. You can search for “the Suffolk Peanut Company” at the National Register of Historic Places via nps. gov.
- If you are curious to see what an authentic “Chicago window” looks like, check out “How this window transformed Chicago” by Stewart Hicks on Youtube.
