The Old Dock Workshop has found a niche reclaiming cypress boards from abandoned tobacco barns to create custom furniture. The company crafts everything from picture frames and mirrors to custom tables and buffets. The shop is oeprated by Jason Rogers and Scott Schmidt.

Tobacco barns have a long and storied history in North Carolina, where tobacco farming was one of the state's key industries. According to "Our State," there were nearly 500,000 such barns on farms across North Carolina at one point. That number has dwindled to around 50,000, with the remaining structures in deteriorating conditions.

Rogers told WECT 6 News that those barns are becoming scarce "but with each he tears down, he likes to research the history behind the structure." 

Rogers is a native of Mooresville, NC, with a degree in Horticulture. Schmidt, a native of Rock Hill, has a degree in recreation and tourism management. Both were garage woodworkers until 2013 when they merged their talents into starting The Old Dock Woodshop.

The two tear down barns in exchange for keeping the wood, which they are accumulating in an abandoned barn in Nokina.