Hams

Hams processed in Smithfield

By Stephen Faleski Staff Writer

Genuine Smithfield hams can only be marketed as such if they are created by the “long-cure, dry salt method” and aged for a minimum of six months, all “within the corporate limits of the town of Smithfield,” reads a Virginia state law.

It’s a distinction shared with Champagne, which can only be labeled as such, and not sparkling wine, if it comes from Champagne, France.

The town’s association with meatpacking dates back to the 18th century.

According to Helen Haverty-King’s book, “Historical Notes on Isle of Wight County, Virginia,” shipping records of the day list Capt. Samuel Wentworth of Smithfield as shipping bacon and hams as early as 1755. But it’s Mallory Todd, a native of Bermuda who came to Smithfield in 1767, who’s credited with creating the famed Smithfield ham using the technique outlined in state law.

After the Civil War, Confederate veteran Pembroke D. Gwaltney Sr., known as Smithfield’s “peanut king,” partnered with his cousin, O.G. Delk, to erect a smokehouse behind their store and warehouse on Commerce Street. But as the moniker implies, P.D. Sr. was more known for producing peanuts than hams.

In 1882, according to King’s book, Gwaltney’s 21-year-old son, P.D. Gwaltney Jr., formed a partnership with his father under the name P.D. Gwaltney Jr. & Co., and began expanding the Gwaltney family’s ham curing operations. When P.D. Sr. died in 1915, P.D. Jr. and his brother-in-law, Frank Berryman, sold their holdings in the peanut business to the American Peanut Corporation.

When the Great Fire of 1921 destroyed Smithfield’s peanut industry, “the Gwaltneys lost very little,” King writes.

In fact, it left P.D. Jr.’s store and meatpacking buildings relatively untouched.

About a year after the fire, P.D. Jr. discovered a smoked ham that had been left hanging, undisturbed, in the rafters of one of his smokehouses for 20 years. He fashioned a brass collar for it, calling it his “pet” ham, and began taking it on tour as a demonstration of the preserving powers of the Smithfield curing method.

Enter Joseph W. Luter Sr. and Jr., the founders of what would eventually become the Fortune 500 company known as Smithfield Foods.

Luter Sr. and Jr. both initially worked for P.D. Gwaltney Jr.’s company, according to King’s book, before striking out on their own in 1936 to found the Smithfield Packing Co. on empty Commerce Street lots where the old American Peanut Corporation warehouses once stood.

The Luters built a packing plant in 1946 on Route 10 and by 1959, their workforce had grown to 650, according to Smithfield Foods’ website.

Luter Jr. was Smithfield’s chief executive officer until his death in 1962. His son, Joseph W. Luter III, joined the company that year. Luter III served as CEO from 1975 through 2006. Under his leadership, Smithfield bought the Gwaltney brand in 1983. Luter continued to serve as the company’s chairman until it was sold to the Hong Kong-based WH Group in 2013.

According to Jim Monroe, Smithfield Foods’ vice president of corporate affairs, the company continues to produce genuine Smithfield hams at its meatpacking plants in town. Top: P.D. Gwaltney’s “pet” ham, marked by its brass collar, is now on display at the Isle of Wight County Museum, having earned the distinction of being the world’s oldest ham. Above: Smithfield Foods maintains its corporate headquarters in downtown Smithfield on Commerce Street.