SMITHFIELD, VIRGINIA

SLIDESHOW

SMITHFIELD - In Smithfield, life is more than pork and peanuts.  It's a thin slice of ham under a meaty crab cake for dinner at the 1752 Smithfield Inn, and the promise of Mozell Brown's famous home-made biscuits in the morning.

It's watching Sweet Moe, Trilogy and the other boats bobbing at the dock at Smithfield Station on the Pagan River.

It's munching on a butterscotch oatmeal cookie from Miss Bessie's Best Cookies & Candies while sitting on a bronze bench next to a sculpture of Ben Franklin on Main Street. 

"It feels like home," said Sarah Langel, a waitress at the Smithfield Station restaurant.

Langel, 37, grew up on a small farm down a dirt road in Smithfield. Although she now lives in Newport News, she said Smithfield will always feel like home.

"On a good day you can smell the hams cooking," she said.

The self-described ham capital of the world, the town is about a 90-mile drive from Richmond. On the way, going east on state Route 10, you'll pass the turn-offs to Bacon's Castle and Hog Island.

While the ride might feel long to some, the locals insist it's not that far.

And for Richmonders who prefer to go by boat, there's always the James River.

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The area, discovered by Captain John Smith and other early settlers, was first colonized in 1634. It was incorporated in 1752 by Arthur Smith IV, the town's namesake.

For its 250th anniversary in 2002, Smithfield held a yearlong celebration that included a 2,200-pound ham biscuit earning the town a spot in the Guinness World Records for the World's Largest Ham Biscuit.

It was 8 feet wide, 14 inches tall and crammed with 500 pounds of Smithfield ham.

These days, the town in Isle of Wight County has become home to more than just pork. Plenty of retirees -- some from the meat plant, others from nearby military installations have located in Smithfield, famous for its 18th- and 19th-century architecture.

"There are a lot of military retired here," said Celia Coughlin, who was born in Suffolk and moved to Smithfield in 1999 with her husband, Richard, who retired from the Air Force as a master sergeant in 1975.

"More and more are coming," she said. "Everybody dreams of moving here."

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They have a slogan in Smithfield -- hams, history and hospitality.

Virginia Wade, who works at The Genuine Smithfield Ham Shoppe, will gladly pluck a salty aged ham from the dangling hooks in the front of the store while you sample some jam and spiced peanuts in the back.

"A lot of people that come in here have read about the hams or grew up watching Grandpa soak them," she said. "They want to try it again. It's nostalgic."

Kimberly Ludwig, visiting from Ohio, was looking for a piece of Virginia to bring home.

"What better than a ham?" she said, naming some of the dishes she could make. "Scalloped potatoes, ham and eggs."

In downtown Smithfield, the place to be is Main Street, a tree-lined boulevard with brick sidewalks, vintage-style lampposts and plenty of shopping and snacking.

There's Olde House Antiques, owned by Patsy Privott, where tourists can buy a piece of the past, and Smithfield Gourmet Bakery and Café, where they can buy a piece of cake -- or several pieces.

There's a glass case inside the café with more than a dozen cake flavors -- white forest, coconut, raspberry swirl, Almond Joy and more.

Robert Gaus, a tourist from Pittsburgh, sat outside the shop recently while his wife looked inside.

"It's just a nice, laid-back time," he said.

Across the street is one of 3-year-old Anthony Szydlik's target shops -- Miss Bessie's.

"They have Smarties," he said, referring to his favorite candy.

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There are several other retail must-sees in Smithfield, including The Christmas Store, which has one of the largest selections of glass holiday ornaments in Virginia; Lindsey Jones Ltd., featuring Haggar women's clothing; and Perspectives, which specializes in rugs and tapestries.

Along the water is Smithfield Station, a hotel, restaurant and marina. It's owned and operated by Ron Pack and his two sons, Randy and Brian.

"We grew up crabbing and fishing on boats in Smithfield," said Randy Pack, a Virginia Tech graduate.

These days the 30-year-old is overseeing the expansion of his family's 22-room hotel, which is nearly doubling in size to about 43 rooms and adding seven retail shops.

One of the hotel's biggest draws: a honeymoon suite reminiscent of a Chesapeake Bay lighthouse. It features a navigational light, steam shower and Jacuzzi.

It's popular with the tourists and newlyweds, but it's not what keeps 72-year-old Jack "Young Wade" Wade around.

Wade spent 52 years in the meatpacking industry. He retired from Smithfield in 2003 and decided to stick around.

Ask him why and he'll tell you the best thing about this town isn't the water views, the shopping or the ham.

"It's the people," he said. "That's why we are here."