Progress 2023

Sentara is proud to launch a new, innovative model of care for the communities we serve.

Sentara Community Care brings neighborhood-level health and wellness services to historically marginalized and under-resourced communities to improve the individual’s health as well as the health of the whole community. Through Sentara Mobile Care and Sentara Community Care Centers, we are providing health services for our Medicaid, underinsured and uninsured community members right in their neighborhoods where they live, work, learn and play.

Smithfield: The town and the company

By Keller Watts Contributing Writer

Smithfield has been my home since adolescence.

I attended Smithfield High School, met my wife here, formed many lasting friendships and found an incredible place to build a career.

Not long after graduating from Virginia Tech (go, Hokies!), I returned home to begin a career at Smithfield Foods that has lasted almost 30 years and counting. At the time, we were a regional food company best known for our hams. Over the years, we have experienced phenomenal growth and become a global company with nearly $20 billion in annual revenue and 60,000 employees.

We are still well known for our highquality hams, but now offer a more diverse portfolio of products and brands. Some may be surprised to know that the Smithfield portfolio includes other iconic brands, including Nathan’s hotdogs, Eckrich smoked sausage and Gwaltney, to name just a few. A large percentage of store brands and items you enjoy at your favorite restaurants are also made by us.

While so many things about our company have changed over the years, it is Smithfield that keeps us anchored in the small-town values we have embraced since we were founded here 87 years ago. Community is at the core of these values, and I am regularly reminded on my short drive to work of the unique relationship between our global company and this beautiful town where I first learned to drive.

I pass Smithfield High, where I graduated in 1989, and take great pride in our company’s support of the school through the years. I jog through scenic Windsor Castle Park, a space preserved for our community by our founder’s son, Joseph W. Luter III. When I enter the company parking lot, I drive by The Smithfield Center and Little Theatre, a meeting place and cultural center supported by our company. All around, I can see and enjoy the long-lasting relationship our company has with our community. The future is bright for Smithfield: the company and the town.

Smithfield Foods employs nearly 2,500 team members today at our Smithfield campus, our nearby production facility off Church Street and in our Suffolk offices. Around this area we operate more than 20 company-owned farms and partner with nearly 30 contract hog farmers across our state. We are leaders in sustainability efforts at the farm level and across our supply chain. In Waverly, we are developing a biogas farm that will generate renewable natural gas by 2024. Farms like this are one of the ways we plan to be carbon negative across our company-owned operations by 2030.

Keller Watts, chief business officer for Smithfield Foods, sees a bright future for both the company and the town for which it’s named.

I am proud to work for Smithfield Foods because of the role we play in the communities where we operate. The contributions we have made and will continue to make in Smithfield are particularly meaningful to me. But I am also thankful for the continued influence the town has had on our company.

My career at Smithfield has been exciting; as the company has grown, I have had the chance to grow with it. My story is not unique. Many current and future Smithfield leaders have stories much like my own. I know as our company evolves, the town of Smithfield will serve as a constant reminder of our heritage and the importance of this community.

At our core, we are a global food company with small town roots. We’ll continue to grow as a company while remaining close to the values and community from which we derive our name.

Keller Watts is chief business officer for Smithfield Foods.

These graphics, courtesy of Smithfield Isle of Wight Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Virginia Tourism Corp., illustrate the economic impact of visitors in both counties.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

NEW METHODOLOGY

These figures provided by Virginia Tourism Corporation (VTC) do not tell the full story of the economic impact of our local tourism industry. Since 2021 VTC has been using a new methodology in providing the annual economic impact data to their partners.

The figures provided by VTC define a “Tourist” as those who travels over 50 miles to a destination. Yet 80-90% Smithfield Tourism’s marketing efforts are directed to the primary markets of Coastal Virginia (Suffolk, Newport News, Hampton, Yorktown, Williamsburg, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Surry) and to timeshares in the Historic Triangle. Secondary markets include Richmond, Northern North Carolina, Charlottesville, Fredricksburg, and the Washington DC/Northern Virginia/Maryland area.

IMPACT MEASURES

The new methodology being used now combines Direct, Indirect, and Induced spending and impact in their report.

DIRECT IMPACT

This category includes spending on accommodations, food and beverage, retail, entertainment/recreation, and transportation.

INDUCED IMPACT

This category includes income effects and household consumption.

INDIRECT IMPACT

This category include supply chain effects, and B2B goods and services purchases.

VISITOR CENTER COUNTS

Retailers play key role in small-town charm

By Stephen Faleski Staff Writer

For Peninsula resident Debbie Carroll, fall 2022 was the perfect time to start her “Busy Nothings” coffee shop in Smithfield.

“It’s the busiest time,” Carroll said. She opened her business in September inside Hamtown Mercantile, a community marketplace with a variety of tenants that opened its doors last summer in the former Laura & Lucy’s Antiques store at 223 Main St. Laura & Lucy’s, a 20-year staple of Smithfield’s historic district, had shuttered in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic but has since reopened and relocated to a converted Victorian-era house further down the street.

Carroll said Smithfield had become her family’s favorite place to visit on a quiet afternoon. So when Hamtown Mercantile

opened, she decided to take the plunge and start one of the town’s newest small businesses.

She’s predicting 2023 will be “even better.”

“They’ve received us with open arms!” said Amber Hassell, who co-owns and operates Hamtown Mercantile with her husband, Jay. “It’s not just the Merc though, it’s all of Main Street. There is a new energy surrounding the downtown corridor.”

“Downtown is taking on a new vibe. Old and new businesses are beginning to think outside the box,” Jay added. “The Christmas Store is undergoing a remodel, other shops are offering new services and experiences, the ice cream shop is staying open later.”

In the words of Isle of Wight County Economic Development Director Chris Morello,

• See RETAIL, p. 6

We place a high level of importance on compassion and integrity - it is what drives our practice and the foundation for our reputation.

Whether diagnosing sleep apnea, providing CPAP set-ups, conducting a home sleep study, EEG or EMG testing, it is our pleasure to take part in the lives of so many people. We treat general neurology conditions including Epilepsy, Alzheimer’s & Dementia, Parkinson’s, Migraines, Multiple Sclerosis, Stroke, and Concussion.

Debbie Carroll works behind the counter at her new coffee shop, Busy Nothings, which opened inside Hamtown Mercantile last fall.

Our physician, Dr. Rajiv Nanavaty along with our Nurse Practitioners, Lacey Lyle and De Ja Davis.

it’s hard to overstate the importance of retail sales on the local economy.

Restaurants and storefronts line both sides of Main Street, and every Saturday from spring through fall, merchants from up to 40 miles away flock to the parking lot at the Bank of Southside Virginia for the town’s weekly farmer’s market.

Neighboring Surry County operates its own farmers market every Friday evening from May through October in the parking lot of the county’s government center at 45 School Street. A long-awaited grocery store –Surry’s first since 1999 – is slated to open this year in the nearby former Surry Furniture & Hardware Co. building at Routes 31 and 10.

“Over the last five years, steady and healthy retail sales increases – in raw dollars, not adjusted for factors such as inflation – have been the norm for the county,” Morello said. “It is important to note that these are a combination of sales at physical stores and online sales that originate in the county, both of which can ‘import’ new money into the county economy. When used for things like ages and local spending, the

indirect benefits of each imported dollar is typically more than the original dollar, creating a ‘multiplier effect’ of economic increase in the community.”

In 2019, Virginia began collecting sales taxes on online purchases following a U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed states to collect sales taxes from out-of-state sellers.

When former Gov. Ralph Northam issued a stay-at-home order in 2020 aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19, officials in Smithfield and Isle of Wight County feared a budget shortfall. But local diners effectively rallied behind Isle of Wight’s restauranteurs by turning to takeout, which resulted in Smithfield’s meals tax revenue staying relatively flat and Isle of Wight County even seeing a $2,000 surplus in meals taxes over the previous year.

According to Isle of Wight County’s adopted 2022-23 budget, online sales taxes represented nearly 35% of all retail sales for Isle of Wight in 2022, up 19% from the previous year. The budget, adopted in June, forecasts $4 million in sales taxes, an increase of 23% over the 2021-22 budget.

But doing business in the county isn’t without its challenges. The bank to date has not renewed the farmer’s market’s parking lot lease, which expires this March. A planned development called The Grange at 10Main, named for its proposed location at Route 10 and Main Street, proposes to include a permanent indoor/outdoor market but even if the development gets approved, construction wouldn’t start until 2024.

A rise in the cost of gasoline and other

commodities last year also continues to impact the local economy.

“There will certainly be challenges in 2023 as long as people continue to have an expectation of increasing prices or a lack of stabilization in the coming year concerning inflation” and “sluggish economic growth compared to the previous two years,” Morello said, “which will translate to more restrained spending on retail products, but not necessarily negative growth.”

The Surry Marketplace, a new grocery store, is slated to open this year in Surry County at the corner of Routes 31 and 10.

AYHAM DEEB, MD SNEHAL DAMLE, MD DANIEL ATIENZA, MD CYNTHIA SILE, MD

Take a tour, buy some locally grown fresh produce & learn more about where your food comes from!

Breezy Hill Meadworks

15981 Breezy Hill Lane, Smithfield, VA 23430 757-214-7494, breezyhillmeadworks@gmail.com www.breezyhillmeadworks.com

Facebook & Instagram: Breezy Hill Meadworks

Dedicated to providing craft meads to the Tidewater VA area. Traditional meads, melomels, metheglins, seasonal honeys, bees wax candles, wraps, honey soap, salves and more. Open Friday and Saturday: Noon to 6 p.m., Sunday: 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. and by appointment, year-round.

Browder’s Fresh Pickins

14489 Bethel Church Lane, Smithfield, VA 23430 browdersfreshpickins@gmail.com

BrowdersFreshPickins.blogspot.com

On our small family farm, we've been growing a variety of fruits & vegetables for over a decade. This year, we'll have 5 different varieties of pick-your-own strawberries ripe from April - June, as well as bedding plants. We're only minutes away from downtown Smithfield.

Bullis Ostrich Farm

6107 Windsor Blvd., Zuni, VA 23898 757-810-4669; greg@kampebullis.com, @zuni.ostrich.farm Offering ostrich meats, eggs and toursa chance to get up close and personal with the world’s largest birds. Open year round. Call to schedule a visit.

Central Hill Farm Alpacas Plus

11322 Central Hill Rd., Windsor, VA 23487 (757) 618-3205 or (757) 434-4629 jehnay82@hotmail.com

Facebook: Central Hill Farm Alpacas Plus Alpacas & Alpaca products & miniature Hereford cattle

Courthouse Pastures, LLC.

16156 Courthouse Hwy., Smithfield, VA 23430 (757) 879-1007, farmeracd@aol.com

Offering Alpacas for sale, breedings to outstanding Herdsires, and extensive support to new alpaca owners. Luxurious yarns made from alpaca fleece products such as socks, gloves, scarves, etc. are available. Raw fleece also available for spinners. Tours available by appointment.

Windhaven Farm

17381 Pope Swamp Trail, Windsor, VA 23487 (757) 209-1095, beef@windhavenbeef.com

WindhavenBeef.com

Facebook: Windhaven Farm Natural Angus Beef

Grass fed/grass finished and Grass fed/grain finished beef; pork; both raised naturally. No antibiotics. No hormones. Farm Market open 2nd & 3rd Saturdays of each month from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Online ordering with front porch freezer pick up available all month. See website for details.

19362 Tomlin Hill Drive, Zuni, VA 23898 (757) 242-4780, Cell: (757) 758-0874

Where food begins

16249 Bowling Green Road, Smithfield, VA 23430 (757) 357-6791, DardensCountryStore.com

Facebook: Dardens Country Store

A working farm, growing peanuts, corn, cotton, soybeans, wheat and pumpkins, Darden’s has been curing hams and making sausage and barbecue since the early 1950s. A small grocery store on the farm sells homemade sausage, ham, cheese, peanuts and local honey. The family also enjoys telling the "farm life" story to hundreds of children (and adults!) who visit each year.

Goerger Farms Produce and Pumpkins

17302 Jolly Circle, Windsor, VA 23487 (757) 817-4388, gfarmsva@gmail.com

Facebook: Goerger Farms, LLC

During the summer months, we offer a variety of fresh produce and cut flowers. As fall begins, we also offer pumpkins – from giant to pie-sized – as well as decorative gourds, edible winter squash and classic jack-o-lanterns. Visit our Facebook page for hours.

Hettie’s Garden Vineyard

21096 Orbit Road, Windsor, VA 23487 (757) 636-2105, myvicnic@verizon.net

HettiesGarden.webs.com

Facebook: Hettie’s Garden Vineyard

23 varieties of muscadine grapes, you pick ‘em late

Oliver Farms Produce

18222 Longview Drive, Smithfield, VA 23430 (757) 255-4563, news@oliverproduce.com

Facebook: Oliver Farms Produce-Smithfield, VA July and August/Summer: sweet corn, butterbeans, and crowder peas; November-February/Fall: collards, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, kale, and cabbage, etc. Please go to the website, Facebook, or call for hours and see what else we might be growing.

SummerWind Vineyard

71 Eagle Nest Lane, Smithfield, VA 23430 (757) 676-5945 (business), (757) 357-2173 (tasting room) SWVSmithfield@gmail.com, SWVSmithfield.com

Windhaven Farm

17381 Pope Swamp Trail, Windsor, VA 23487 (757) 209-1095, beef@windhavenbeef.com

WindhavenBeef.com

Facebook: Windhaven Farm Natural Angus Beef Grass fed/grass finished and Grass fed/grain finished beef; pork; both raised naturally. No antibiotics. No hormones. Farm Market open 2nd & 3rd Saturdays of each month from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Online ordering with front porch freezer pick up available all month. See website for details.

19362 Tomlin Hill Drive, Zuni, VA 23898 (757) 242-4780, Cell: (757) 758-0874

zunitree@gmail.com, ZuniTreeAlpacaFarm.com

Facebook: Zuni Tree & Alpaca Farm

The Christmas tree farm is open the day after Thanksgiving until the trees are sold out. Also offering alpacas for sale, breeding, and support for new owners, as well as alpaca products such as socks, gloves, scarves, and hats. Please call to be sure the farm is open for the season or to make an appointment to see the alpacas.

This symbol means the farm participates in the Smithfield Farmers Market held each Saturday in downtown Smithfield. Visit the website for details & dates. SmithfieldFarmersMarket.org

Isle of Wight County is located on the western edge of the Coastal Virginia region. Easy access to all parts of the region, including Virginia Beach and the Historic Triangle,

choices

Smithfield Vice Mayor Butler honed leadership skills with NAACP

By Stephen Faleski Staff Writer

To see examples of Valerie Butler’s activism, one need only walk past the kayak launch in Windsor Castle Park, where a once-dormant community garden now thrives, or drive past the Isle of Wight County government complex at Monument Circle, where the Confederate monument for which the street is named no longer stands.

Butler, a retired banker-turnedRealtor and lifelong resident of Smithfield, began her career at the former Bank of Smithfield, now home to the Isle of Wight County Museum. But she credits her 25-year involvement with Isle of Wight’s NAACP chapter with helping to hone her leadership skills.

Butler served for 10 years as the Isle of Wight NAACP’s president after she – in her words – was “drafted” into the position when her predecessor, Dottie Harris, became ill.

“The NAACP has helped me find my voice,” said Butler, who stepped down from the role in 2022 and was succeeded by Carrollton resident Ariane Williams.

“My first involvement was with voter registration, of which I am very passionate about,” Butler said. “I truly believe there is power in the vote. Voter education is even more important. Our community needs to understand the issues how they’ll be affected by decisions and what’s important to them.”

During Butler’s tenure as president, she led an ultimately successful years-long campaign to remove Isle of Wight’s Confederate monument from county-owned land, contending the statue glorified white supremacy.

She’d brought the issue to county supervisors in 2017, days after the violent “Unite the Right” rally, where white supremacists clashed

with counter-protesters at Charlottesville’s now-removed monument to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Her persistence paid off when state law changed to allow localities to remove, relocate, cover or add contextual signage to their monuments and, in 2021, the supervisors voted to deed the statue to a county resident.

In 2021, Butler also worked with Williams on restarting Windsor Castle Park’s community garden, which Smithfield Middle School students had abandoned in 2020 at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. As a result of her advocacy that same year for state approval of a proposed 50bed Riverside hospital in the county, she’s been named to the hospital’s regional medical board.

Butler ran for her first term on Smithfield’s Town Council in 2018 and was reelected in 2022. Her council colleagues recently selected her as vice mayor. She recalls, when she first ran, someone said to her, “I didn’t know you were interested in politics,” and that she’d replied, “I’m not.”

It was her cousin, the late James Chapman, who convinced her to get her name on the ballot. Chapman, who died in 2022, had made history in 1978 as the town’s first Black councilman and again in 1990 as its first Black mayor.

“I have lived here all my life, witnessed progress and growth, and I’d like to be a part of continuing that,” Butler said.

Butler relies heavily on her calendar to keep her various commitments organized. In 2021, when video footage of two Windsor police officers holding a uniformed Black National Guard officer, 1st. Lt. Caron Nazario, at gunpoint and

traveled to Richmond to observe the first three trial days of Nazario’s lawsuit against the two officers, despite having just been in the city a week earlier for Virginia Municipal League training.

“I know I cannot be everywhere, but I have learned to say no,” Butler said.

Despite its high-profile controversies, Butler still loves Isle of Wight

“How could you not love living in our safe and unique community of southern charm nestled on the Pagan River,” Butler said.

Valerie Butler at a 2021 contractsigning ceremony to celebrate the SVFD’s purchase of two new vehicles.

Young Packers: football, cheering and track

Smithfield Packers Youth Sports is on a roll.

Between the 2022 spring and fall seasons, registration increased from 180 to 206 athletes, including an 88% increase in cheerleaders and a 16% increase in football players.

Track had its inaugural season with 25 participants.

This past season the 6-and-under blue flag football squad won the Peninsula Youth Football and Cheerleading Organization Super Bowl, while the 14U football team finished second in the PYFCO Super Bowl.

“Our program keeps participants physically fit and teaches them important

lessons about teamwork, perseverance; we also encourage academic achievement and sportsmanship,” said Sean Kelly, SPYS spokesman.

"Each football division is encouraged by a cheerleading squad that parallels the age and ability of the football team. We are on pace to field 4 football teams and 4 cheerleading squads this season; averaging 24-28 players per team and 10-20 per squad."

Smithfield Packers Youth Sports is gearing up for the 2023 season, featuring spring and fall cheerleading, football and track.

Registration fees are $125 for cheerleading, $100 for flag football, $175 for tackle football and $125 for track.

Top left, Smithfield Packers

Youth Sports' annual Jamboree in August featured 45 games by 13 teams. on Saturday, Aug. 6, at the Smithfield High School practice fields. Above, Coach FonTera Gaddis receives a surprise birthday serenade, surrounded by members of the cheerleading team. At left, SPYS athletes, from left, Alexandria Washburg, Alayna Washburn, Skyla Gurganus and Hannah Jenkins competed in a track meet in Henrico. Lower left, cheerleaders do a routine for the congregation at Little Zion Baptist Church. They are, front row from left, Zoey Lunsford, Jade Giles and Siya Smallwood; back row, Traniece Cupid, Ari Hendricks and Nahalie Roberts.

IW Museum: More than ham and peanuts

By Phyllis Speidell Contributing Writer

Historic landmarks dotting the landscape of Isle of Wight County and Smithfield are scenic souvenirs of the area’s rich heritage. Some landmarks, such as the 1750 courthouse on Smithfield’s Main Street, are well known but, across the community, lesser recognized landmarks are also a treasure trove of intriguing local history.

If you’ve wondered if there was ever a factory on Scott’s Factory Road, or who flew from the grass runways of Orbit’s airfield, or who lived in the tiny, red-roofed cottage on Rescue Road, or how Nike Park got its name - the Isle of Wight County Museum has the answers.

The Isle of Wight County Museum, founded in 1976, celebrates those landmarks and much more in its constantly updated galleries and collections. Rachel Popp, Museum Curator, said that people often mention having visited the museum, perhaps a dozen years ago. If they’ve not been back, they’ve missed much of what the museum staff has done to widen its focus and bring the county’s story to a broader audience. While the museum’s exterior retains much of its stately Gothic-columned style from when it was built in 1913 as the Bank of Smithfield, the interior is about much more than ham and peanuts.

In addition to continually expanding and updating its exhibits and galleries, the mu-

seum hosts events and a range of online resources in a dynamic look at the continuing growth and development of the community.

Check the museum website for the 2023 schedule of its sponsored events including walking tours in downtown Smithfield as well as Windsor Castle, Fort Boykin, Ivy Hill Cemetery, and Fort Huger. The museum’s 2023 diverse lecture series includes programs by noted archaeologists Nick Luccketti and Bly Straube, Hampton Roads Sports Hall of Famer, former professional basketball player and Smithfield High coach Vivian Greene, and author/honeybee authority Virginia Johnson.

Most recently, the museum hosted Gary Powers, Jr., founder and chairman emeritus of the Cold War Museum in Warrenton, VA. Powers is the son of the U-2 pilot, Gary Powers, Sr., who was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960 in an international incident that made global headlines and prompted the 2015 Tom Hanks’ movie, Bridge of Spies.

Powers’ museum appearance in Smithfield connected well with the history of Nike Park in Carrollton. The former 1950s Cold War era Nike-Ajax missile base once held 30 missiles ready to deploy on command. Deactivated as a missile site in 1961 the property is now home to the Isle of Wight County Parks and Recreation Department.

What stories do those other lesser-known landmarks hold ? James Scott opened a cot-

• See MUSEUM, p. 11

Rachel Popp is curator of the Isle of Wight County Museum. (Submitted by John Sheally III)

Benjamin Chappell and Benjamin Faltz work on restoration of the Nike-Ajax missile base in Carrollton. (Submitted by John Sheally III)

ton factory in 1828 off Scotts Factory Road. The four-story brick building had been built in 1824 on the site of an old grist mill and boatyard on Cypress Creek. Scott sold the mill and the new owner moved the business to Danville, Virginia in 1862. In 1864 Federal and Confederate troops skirmished on the mill site. The four-story factory deteriorated over the years and in 1937 salvaged bricks from the building were incorporated into the wall surrounding the county courthouse.

The red-roofed cottage was originally part of the James River Bridge Hotel that opened in 1937 at the south end of the bridge. When the hotel closed in 1955, Joe Hooker, a shipyard worker and part time barber bought two of the cottages and brought them to Battery Park. One cottage still survives after years of drawing crowds of men to the popular barber shop Hooker operated there at night and on weekends. The charm is still there but the barber shop has closed.

Those grassy runways at the 1940s Garner Gliderport neighboring the late 1800s country store in Orbit belong to the Tidewater Soaring Society Foundation. On many weekends you can catch a glimpse of manned gliders taking off or soaring in for a landing.

To learn more about the community and its souvenirs of its past, click on the museum website (https://www. historicisleofwight.com) and browse the online exhibits.

Surry County: Steeped in history

Surry County is home to two of the area’s most visited historical attractions.

The brick house built by Arthur Allen in 1665, now known as Bacon’s Castle, is the only surviving example of Jacobean architecture in British North America and the oldest existing brick dwelling in Virginia.

Its name is derived from the fortified role it played in Nathaniel Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676.

The 17th-century garden may be the earliest found in North America.

A historic love poem, etched with a diamond into a glass window by Emmett Robinson to his wife, Indianna Allen Henley Robinson, the last of the Allen descendants who lived at Bacon’s Castle, has been restored and conserved. The etching is dated September 1840.

The castle’s most notable phenomenon is a mysterious fireball.

Somewhere between the garret and second floor near the stair tower, the fireball, as legend goes, appears, races down the tower, out of the former back door (now bricked over) and streaks through a farm field toward the Lawnes Creek Parish Ruins and cemetery.

Chippokes State Park offers both modern recreational activities and a glimpse of life in a bygone era. Visitors may tour the historic area with its antebellum mansion and outbuildings and stroll through formal English gardens.

In 1854, Albert Carroll Jones built the present Chippokes Mansion that overlooks the historic James River. This Italianate structure was built of brick, had stucco applied and was painted on its river facade. The plantation changed owners many times before it was bought in 1918 by Thornton Jeffress of

Rochester, New York, and V.W. Stewart of Wilson, North Carolina. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart moved to Chippokes and expended great effort to restore the property, and compiled a detailed history of the plantation. Upon her husband’s death in 1967, Mrs. Stewart, in order to preserve the farm in its entirety, donated Chippokes Plantation to the Commonwealth of Virginia as a memorial to her husband. Mrs. Stewart hoped that it would become a park and would be preserved as a working farm to interpret day-to-day farm life through the centuries.

Chippokes is one of the oldest continually farmed properties in the country, retaining its original 1619 boundaries of 1,683 acres. The Farm and Forestry Museum at the park offers displays of antique farm and forestry equipment, tools and housewares.

The Arts

Arts League: Delighting eyes and ears

The community’s vibrant, year-round arts scene is owed largely to the Isle of Wight Arts League, which is in its third decade of programming for the visual and performing arts.

The Arts League sprang in the 1990s from the Smithfield Cultural Arts Center as a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development and recognition of the arts as an important, multicultural contributor to the well-being and growth of the community.

The league’s home is the Arts Center @319, a renovated hardware store on Main Street in Smithfield, where it shares space with the Smithfield/Isle of Wight Visitor Center.

The league provides rotating art exhibits in the Arts Center’s galleries and through adult and youth classes in its dedicated arts classroom. Access to working artist studios brings direct exposure to the arts for visitors and students.

Other programs include:

Summer Concert Series

Begun in 1987 by John and Anne Edwards, the free Friday night concerts in “Times Square” between Memorial Day and Labor Day officially became part of the Arts League in 2005.

“We are honored to continue to bring a variety of great music from many genres to tantalize the music lover in all of us,” said organizer Elaine Dairo. “You’ll hear performers in the genres of jazz, blues, bluegrass, gospel, patriotic, a Children’s Night, R&B, country, reggae, rock, pop and many more.”

The concerts begin at 7 p.m., an accommodation for families with small children and “those that would like to be in bed by 9,” Dairo said.

Nearly 3,000 people attended the concerts in 2022.

“The goal is to provide something for everyone and have a new mixture of performers each year,” Dairo said. “Your attendance tells us which ones to repeat.”

A new gazebo stage is expected to be complete for the first concert of 2023, scheduled for May 26.

Sundays at Four

In 2010, Sundays at Four, a performing arts series featuring chamber musicians and vocalists, joined the Arts League as a sponsored program. Sundays at Four presents four performances each season, concluding in August with Terrific Teen Talent, a showcase of award-winning and young musicians.

Now in its 15th season, Sundays at Four “has been bringing performances of classical chamber music to the residents of Isle of Wight in a beautiful setting where nobody is more than 30 feet from the stage,” said organizer Dru Stowe.

Many of the Terrific Teen performers have gone on to successful solo and orchestral careers across the nation.

A scholarship fund is maintained in memory of local composer Nelson Linnaberg, one of the organization’s founders.

For information, visit www.sundaysatfourva.org

Smithfield Music

In 2005, the Isle of Wight Arts League entered into a partnership with Smithfield Music, a venture created by Jim and Elaine Abicht to present performances by top-tier professional musicians in a family-friendly venue, the Smithfield Little Theatre, which is a co-sponsor.

Net proceeds from Smithfield Music events are donated to the school music programs in Isle of Wight County.

To date, Smithfield Music has gifted almost $80,000 to school music programs, which have used the funds to purchase instruments, sheet music, sound equipment, pay for auxiliary teachers and so forth. Scholarships have also been given to students in need who are pursuing advanced musical studies.

House concerts are used to present solo acoustic acts of national songwriters who are touring in the area. Smithfield Music is also responsible for managing the stages at the three festivals presented by Smithfield VA Events: the Wine Fest in the spring, the Bacon Fest in the fall and the BOB Fest in January.

Sundays at Four performers have included the Second Ending Brass Quintet, from left, Dru Stowe, Ellen Polachek, Kerry Moffit, Heidi Bloch, James Barnard and Kenneth Keller.

The Smithfield Summer Concert Series draws big crowds on Times Square every Friday evening between Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends.

The Arts Center @319 features exhibits and classes in the visual arts.

Public and private schools, plus a college, serve area

Staff report

Isle of Wight and Surry County are home to two public school divisions, private schools and a campus of the region’s community college.

Isle of Wight County Schools

Isle of Wight County has two public high schools, Smithfield High and Windsor High, which are located about 20 miles apart and serve county students in grades 9-12.

Smithfield Middle School (grades 7-8), adjacent to Smithfield High, and Georgie D. Tyler Middle School (grades 6-8), several blocks away from Windsor High, serve the county’s middle school population.

Carrsville Elementary School and Windsor Elementary School, in the southern portion of Isle of Wight, enroll students in grades K-5. Carrollton Elementary and Hardy Elementary, in the northern end of the county, house grades K-3 and K-4 respectively. Westside Elementary, in the town of Smithfield, serves students in grades 4-6.

The school division, with a total enrollment of 5,629 students, is led by new Superintendent Dr. Theo Cramer.

Surry County Schools

Surry County is home to Surry Elementary School, housing pre-kindergarten through fourth grade; Luther P. Jackson Middle School for grades 5-8; and Surry High School for grades 9-12.

Combined enrollment on all three campuses is 685.

Dr. Serbrenia James Sims is the division’s superintendent.

Isle of Wight Academy

Isle of Wight Academy, located south of Smithfield and north of Windsor on Route 258, is an independent, non-sectarian coeducational college preparatory day school that was founded in 1967. It serves prekindergarten through 12th grades.

IWA is accredited by the Virginia Inde-

pendent Schools Association, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the Southern Association of Independent Schools.

Professional and athletic memberships include the Association of Virginia Academies, the Metropolitan Association of Schools, the Metro Athletic Conference and the Virginia Colonial Conference.

Hampton Roads Classical

The area’s newest private school is Hampton Roads Classical, which operates inside Hope Presbyterian Church on Benns Church Boulevard.

The school currently serves kindergarten through seventh grade and intends to add a grade each year until it serves through 12th grade.

Hampton Roads Classical’s mission is “to cultivate intellectual, moral, and civic virtue in each student, through a rigorous American classical education that disciplines the mind to a lifelong pursuit of wisdom grounded in the objective standards of truth, goodness and beauty intrinsic to the human spirit.”

Paul D. Camp Community College

The Camp Community College service area is composed of the cities of Franklin and Suffolk and counties of Southampton and Isle of Wight.

The two-year school’s mission is to provide “accessible, quality higher education, workforce training, and community development in our service region, while supporting success for a diverse student population, and fulfilling the needs of our employers.”

Camp is one of 23 colleges in the Virginia Community College System.

Camp Community College’s Center at Smithfield, established in 1993, is located on the second floor of the Blackwater Regional Library’s Smithfield branch on James Street.

At the center, the college offers an array of general education courses in areas such as English, history, humanities, mathematics,

psychology and sociology, as well as career pathways courses in emergency medical services, business information technology and early childhood education. Traditional classroom settings are offered as well as interactive video and hybrid courses. A hybrid course is one in which a portion of the course is taught online, providing students with an

opportunity to utilize distance learning. Dual Enrollment courses are also offered at Smithfield and Windsor high schools. The Dual Enrollment program allows qualified high school students to enroll in college coursework while still in high school, earning high school and college credit simultaneously.

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Woman’s Club of Smithfield: A century of service

By Tea Frantz Contributing writer

The Woman’s Club of Smithfield began April 19, 1927, and is a part of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs (GFWC), a national and international organization founded in 1890. Throughout the 95 years, the Club started the Smithfield Library, created Hayden’s Lane and the now known Riverside Convalescent Center. A beautiful hard-cover cookbook was published with delicious hometown recipes and hometown history.

The Woman’s Club of Smithfield not only supports the needs of women, but also the needs of children, elderly, those in need, military, veterans, emergency personnel, local businesses, and 501c(3) organizations from locally to globally. The theme for 2022-2024 is “Service Blooms from Within”. The lives touched and the accomplishments are seen blooming throughout the community and beyond.

Members are busy collecting product and monetary donations for nearly 50 organizations. The Woman’s Club has donated books to Hardy Elementary, food to Christian Outreach, sweatsuits to Sweats for Vets, toys to CHKD and Operation Smile. Members assist with Meals-on-Wheels and a Red Cross blood drive. A $2,000 donation was given to the Luter YMCA Bright Beginnings Program, along with shopping with children for school clothes at Kohl’s. Several $1,000 scholarships are given to deserving local students every year. The Woman’s Club will be partnering with Kiwanis to assist with tutoring kindergarten students for the Isle Read Program at Hardy Elementary School. Birthday Bags filled with birthday party items for foster children will be donated to Connect with a Wish. Care Kits with March of Dimes will be donated to moms of premature babies.

The Woman’s Club of Smithfield is known for its fundraisers. One popular fundraiser is the Club Calendar. It show -

cases the beautiful pen and ink drawings of local historical homes and businesses drawn by local artists. A new addition to the calendar is the added dates of events and activities by Smithfield & Isle of Wight Tourism. Another popular fundraiser is the much-anticipated Annual Flea Market. This year it will be held on Saturday, March 25, at the Smithfield Center from 8 a.m.to 1 p.m. Members collect the market items throughout the year, filling at least 17 booths. The Woman’s Club is also offering two Raffles: a Quilt Raffle, and a $1,000 Visa Gift Card Raffle.

There are many fun activities for the members. They participate in an Art Contest, craft project classes, field trips, and a monthly book club. The On the Move program allows members to focus on exercise and health. They participate with the Hog Jog, St. Jude Walk, Walk to Remember, and the Smithfield Christmas Parade. For the town of Smithfield, members make natural Christmas wreaths to hang around town and Christmas cookies for the Tree Lighting.

There are benefits to joining The Woman’s Club of Smithfield. Lasting friendships are made. Leadership skills are developed. All women in our area are encouraged to consider joining The Woman’s Club of Smithfield. If you would like additional information about this organization, please visit www.womansclubofsmithfieldva.com, Facebook page, or feel free to contact a club member.

One of the club's longstanding traditions is decorating the public buildings in Smithfield every Christmas season. Carrying it on are, from left, Peggy Christian, Fran Frank and Caroline Miller.

The Woman's Club partners with Isle of Wight County Social Services to provide birthday bags for children in the foster care program. Laura Read, left, and Suzy Brett are co-chairs of the Civic Engagement Community Service Program.

Woman's Club members participating in the fourth annual Smithfield Run to Remember are Barbara Thomas, Barbara Arrington, Joanne Willis, Sue Schwarting, Suzy Brett, Donna Waldmiller, Pam Turner, Janice Dolensky, Front: Brenda Bergevin, Debbie Beckham, Peggy Christian, Mary Stowe, Teresa Frantz and her dog Kali.

June 2nd, 3rd & 4th