Flowers began purchasing land in the early years of the Great Depression to farm cotton and tobacco, and it produced crops until the 1970s.
He was an American businessman, philanthropist, noted fox hunter, and "North Carolina's number one" producer of illegal alcohol in the mid twentieth century.
[1] Flowers is reported to have been a "pillar of the White Oak Baptist Church" and to have had close ties with local politicians.
He was variously charged with bootlegging, reckless driving, illegal purchase of a firearm, and tax evasion[2] but "rarely spent anytime in jail.
As a result of his open disregard for the laws governing alcohol production and consumption along with his "lavish" donations to his church and those in need, he was seen by some as a Robin Hood-like folk hero.