Slice Magazine Spring 2023

Spring 2023

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Time in His Hands

Luter-style Hams

WIGHT

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NEW TO THE COUNTY?

e Isle of Wight County ewcomer ’ s Guide provides the information those who re new to the area and esidents need on county er vices, recreational opportunities, elected officials, utilities, emergency ser vices, and much more

REFUSE & RECYCLING CENTERS

Hours: Mon & Tues ,Thurs - Sat 7 am – 7 pm Sun 1 pm – 7 pm, closed Wed

Wrenn’s Mill R&R Center, Smithfield 356.1040

Jones Creek R&R Center, Carrollton 356.1037

Carroll Bridge R&R Center, Windsor 356.1018

Stave Mill R&R Center, Windsor 242.3597

Carrsville R&R Center, 516 2851

Camptown R&R Center, Franklin 516.2850

Crocker R&R Center, Windsor 356 1026

Walters R&R Center, Carrsville 516 2852

REFUSE & RECYCLING CENTERS ISLE OF WIGHT

Hours:

Camptown Park

Heritage Park

Wrenn’s

1040

Smithfield 356 1040

Creek R&R Center, Carrollton 356.1037

Carroll Bridge R&R Center, Windsor 356 1018

The guide is available at the county complex or it can be downloaded from the county’s website

Stave Mill R&R Center, Windsor 242.3597

Carrsville R&R Center, 516.2851

Camptown R&R Center, Franklin 516.2850

Crocker R&R Center, Windsor 356.1026

Walters R&R Center, Carrsville 516.2852

Jones Creek Boat Ramp

Jones Creek R&R Center, Carrollton 356.1037

Joyner's Bridge Boat Ramp

Carroll Bridge R&R Center, Windsor 356.1018

Nike Park

Stave Mill R&R Center, Windsor 242.3597

River view Park

Carrsville R&R Center, 516.2851

Robinson Park

Camptown R&R Center, Franklin 516.2850

Tyler's Beach Boat Ramp, Harbor & Public Beach

Fort Boykin Historic Park

Crocker R&R Center, Windsor 356.1026

Historic Fort Huger

Walters R&R Center, Carrsville 516.2852

WINDSOR DISTRICT Joel C Acree HARDY DISTRICT Rudolph Jefferson William M McCarty

DISTRICT 4 (FORMERLY WINDSOR DISTRICT) Joel Acree

DISTRICT 5 (FORMERLY CARRSVILLE DISTRICT) Don G. Rosie II

DISTRICT 1 (FORMERLY SMITHFIELD DISTRICT) Richard L. “Dick” Grice

DISTRICT 3 (FORMERLY HARDY DISTRICT) Rudolph Jefferson

DISTRICT 2 (FORMERLY NEWPORT DISTRICT) William M. McCarty Chairman Vice-Chai r man

EDITORIAL

Stephen Faleski Writer

Titus Mohler Writer

Jen Jaqua Photographer

PRODUCTION

Troy Cooper Designer

ADVERTISING

Lindsay Richardson Regional Sales Manager

Dana Snow Marketing Consultant

Mitzi Lusk Marketing Consultant

Steve Stewart Publisher

Hello, spring

The temperature is approaching 80 and spring blooms abound at this writing in early April, so winter is surely gone, right?

Some old-timers have told me about April snowfalls in Isle of Wight, so apologies if I jinxed us.

Smithfield, a beautiful place yearround, presents especially well in the spring. If you’ve not been downtown in a while, come down for a stroll. We’re partial to Saturday mornings with the Farmers Market back in business for a new season.

The front lawn of The Smithfield Times and Slice office has been chaotic for a few months, but for a good cause.

The gazebo stage that is home to the Downtown Smithfield Summer Concert Series and other community events has been rebuilt from scratch. The bigger, better replacement will make its debut at the second Smithfield Arts Festival on Saturday, May 20. Among our favorite features in the new setup is an entrance to our lawn via Hayden’s Lane.

The Summer Concert Series returns May 26 and continues every Friday evening through Labor Day weekend. A terrific lineup is taking shape. Watch The Smithfield Times for details.

We hope you enjoy this issue of Slice. We had lots of fun putting it together.

Phyllis Speidell and John Sheally wrap up their yearlong series on the families who built this region’s thriving ham industry. The Luter family’s story is a remarkable one.

Stephen Faleski profiles a bluegrass band with a Smithfield frontman. And time is doing anything but standing still at Robinson’s Antique Clocks in Carrollton. Speidell tells us what makes Rick Robinson tick.

Steve Stewart

TIME IN HIS HANDS

Country Ham

How Smithfield's Luter family made ham a global enterprise.

Where Am I?

Pure Creation

The Auld Country bluegrass band, founded by Smithfield's Jesse Burdick, is working on its first group album.

Can you identify the location of our “Where Am I” photo challenge? If you’re right, you’ll be entered to win a $25 gift card.

In History

Barges on the Blackwater? They used to be a common sight.

From stately grandfather clocks to a small Mickey Mouse wall clock, Rick Robinson's shop in Carrollton holds hundreds of timepieces.

Dr. Robert Baer

Dr. Tara Buehler

Dr. James Bota

Dr. Kevin DeHart

Amy Volkmann, PA-C

Dr. Charlene Oldfield

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Daniel Atienza, MD

Cynthia Sile, MD

Snehal Damle, MD

Ayham Deeb, MD

Ste. 105, Suffolk, VA

Ste. 101, Suffolk, VA

Country ham – Luter-style

Smithfield Foods’ founding family provided four generations of leadership

Last in a series on Western Tidewater's ham history

Country ham is more than a protein – it is emblematic of a culture that values tradition and taste. While the salty twang of this delicacy can be an acquired taste, country ham aficionados value country ham far above what they may classify as a milder, moister “city ham.”

The earliest English settlers in the coastal areas of what would become Virginia and North Carolina were accustomed to using salt to preserve meat. They quickly learned the Native American techniques of smoking meat and eventually combined both methods to preserve hams with the distinctive flavor and texture prized over the centuries as country ham.

The Jamestown settlers grazed their pigs on Hog Island in the James River, not far from the Smithfield/Isle of Wight/Surry area which became renowned for its fine quality country hams. Working with their individual takes on the smoke/salt method of meat preservation, families devised their own distinctive versions of country ham. The fine points of the process passed down like an heirloom from generation to generation within the family.

Lucy Gwaltney Clay remembers years back when the varied ham tastes

Story by Phyllis Speidell

Photos by John H. Sheally II and from the Isle of Wight County Museum

A brown sugar glaze helped popularize the Luter's Artisan Genuine Smithfield Ham.

A parade float in the mid-1940s carried live (and not-so-live) pigs in front of the new Smithfield Packing Co. on Route 10.

were so significant, she could tell, with a few bites, which family cured which ham.

Many of the better-known names in the ham game were local – Todd, Edwards, Joyner, Felts, Darden, Gwaltney and Luter. It was four generations of Luters – Joseph W. Luter, Sr., Joseph W. Luter, Jr., Joseph W. Luter III and Joseph W. Luter IV – who developed perhaps the internationally best known name in hams, as well as sausage and other products. The business the family founded, Smithfield Foods, has become almost synonymous with the town of Smithfield.

The Luter lineage in ham began in 1918 with Luter Sr, a salesman for Gwaltney Packing. When his vision began to fail, he brought along his 10-year-old son, Joseph Luter, Jr., to assist on the sales calls. When Luter Jr. grew into his own job at Gwaltney, he worked up through the various parts of the business to become the plant manager.

Swift & Co. bought Gwaltney in 1926 and made their own changes to the business. By 1936, Luter Jr., unhappy with what he saw as a stalled career, convinced his father to start their own Smithfield Packing Co. — just the two of them, a truck driver and $10,000 from local investors.

Sadly, not long after that, Luter Sr. suffered a stroke. While he remained involved in the business and on the board until his death in 1946, Luter Jr. became CEO of the company, established a packing plant and welcomed the arrival of Joe Luter III, who was born in 1939.

Business flourished through the 1940s. Smithfield Packing hired the legendary Charles Henry Gray, whose 47-year career with the Luters took him from the loading docks to retiring as assistant to the chairman of the board. Gray also developed the famed Charles

Lifesize statues of three generations of Luter men adorn the campus of Smithfield Foods.

Charles Henry Gray's 47-year career with Smithfield Packing took him from the loading docks to the boardroom.

Henry Gray Party Ham, a popular Smithfield ham with a secret brown sugar glaze.

The company opened a new slaughterhouse just across the Pagan River from what were then the town limits of Smithfield. The curing, however, was still done in town in a building on Commerce Street so that the hams would comply with Virginia law defining Smithfield hams as those processed, treated, smoked, aged, cured by the long-cure, dry salt method and aged for a minimum of six months – all to be done within the corporate limits of the town of Smithfield.

Under Luter Jr.’s leadership, Smithfield Packing grew to 650 employees. Luter III, from his high school days, was among those workers, laboring, just as his father had, on the loading docks and on the kill floor.

From the plant to Wake Forest University, Luter III studied business administration, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1962 and came back to work at Smithfield

Smithfield Foods' global headquarters is on the banks of the Pagan River. Markers like this one tell the company's story.

Packing. When Luter Jr. died that same year, his son bought out the non-family shareholders and, in 1966, gained control of the company when he was still in his mid-20s.

Three years later, in 1969, when the company was sold to Liberty Equities Corp., the company name changed to Smithfield Foods Inc. and Luter III left the company to develop a Virginia ski resort, Bryce Mountain. By 1975, however, the company was struggling and asked Luter III to return. He did and restructured Smithfield Foods. Over the next two decades, Smithfield Foods continued to acquire other companies and deal with major environmental concerns while its revenues, however, continued to climb. The company acquired two of the largest hog producers in the country and expanded into Mexico, the United Kingdom and more, becoming the largest pork processor in the world by 2000.

The youngest Luter, Joe Luter IV, was moving up in the ranks to executive vice

president of Smithfield Foods and president of Smithfield Packing Company in 2008. The firm continued to innovate and grow. A partnership with Richard Petty Motorsports to sponsor NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events brought even more attention to the company and its products.

Five years later Shanghai International Holdings Ltd., based in China, bought Smithfield Foods Inc. and acquired a majority of shares in the company. C. Larry Pope became the new president of Smithfield Foods, which continued to grow with more international acquisitions.

Although Joe Luter IV left the company to pursue other interests, the Luter concern and care for the town of Smithfield continues.

“My father grew up there and there’s no place he loves more than Smithfield,” Luter IV said, adding that the family shies away from self-promotion but continues in its philanthropy .

The life-size bronze statues throughout the town, all the work of noted sculp-

tor George Lundeen, were Joe Luter III’s gift to the town. Later Joe Luter IV and his siblings commissioned three new Lundeen sculptures honoring Joe Luter Sr., Joe Luter Jr. and Joe Luter III. The founding trio stand in a grassy area in the center of the riverfront Smithfield Foods campus.

The Luters have supported the town with numerous projects, including Windsor Castle Park, the Luter Sports complex and the Luter Family YMCA as well as in bringing the corporate headquarters back to Smithfield.

In 2018 when the company closed its aging smokehouse, the last in town, a wave of worry swept over Smithfield ham lovers. But no need to worry, according to Adrienne Taylor, Smithfield Foods’ associate public relations manager, who assured that each year the company continues to cure, age and smoke about 2200 Smithfield Genuine Hams within the town limits at the Smithfield North Facility on Church Street.

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Time in his Hands

A walk around Robinson's Antique Clocks in Carrollton is a stroll through time.

If you are lucky enough to catch Rick Robinson when he is not deep into the complex works of an old timepiece or teaching a class how to work on clocks, he is a master guide through the history ticking there.

From stately grandfather clocks to a small Mickey Mouse wall clock, the shop holds hundreds of timepieces — some hand-painted, some with wooden works, even one built into an 1880s handcrafted model of a locomotive. Each one, whether it is there for repair or is part of Robinson’s personal collection, has a story.

Robinson has his own story as well. Originally from Franklin, New York, a small town about 12 miles from Oneonta, he discovered his mechanical aptitude early. He rebuilt a small engine when he was 10 years old and then went on to restore an 1880 Ansonia iron case mantel clock pulled from his grandmother’s attic.

“I realized that I could fix things that stumped the adults,” he said. About 40 years ago, Robinson, now 69, moved to Yorktown to rebuild wrecked cars for his uncle. He moved to Denbigh and then settled in the Morgarts Beach area. In the mid-1980s he started teaching auto body repair and refinishing at the former Pruden Vo-Tech Center, now the College and Career Academy at Pruden, in Suffolk. Teaching, for him, was fulfilling but exhausting.

He also repaired clocks in his home as a sideline but needed more room to work and to store his clock collection as well as the growing inventory he was repairing. In 2000, he left teaching and opened his shop on Brewers Neck Road.

Story by Phyllis Speidell

Photos by John H. Sheally II

Slice of Smithfield

“Two of the best things I’ve done were getting into teaching and then walking away 12 years later,” he said, and then quipped, “I enjoy clocks. Clocks don’t talk back – at least not out loud.”

“For a while, people didn’t know I was here,” he said, remembering that cars sped along Brewers Neck without glancing his way.

“But by about 2009 business really picked up,” he said, adding that now he has a waiting list to take new orders.

Robinson knows that qualified clock repair people are scarce. The trade is shrinking with very few young people interested in a career in horology – the science of measuring time and how to build and work on timepieces. With that in mind, Robinson shares his expertise with a few students, often more senior adults. Some become friends who visit regularly and may help at the shop.

As Robinson walked through his shop, he talked about some of the older and more unique timepieces. In the early 1800s, he said, clocks ran on wooden movements. Clock movements were first mass produced about 1806 and the first metal movements, made of brass, introduced about 1835. He also explained that antique clocks, like most antiques today, are not as sought after.

For 30 years, Robinson has been an active member of the Old Dominion Chapter 34 of the National Association of Watch & Clock Collectors, currently as president. He also evaluates clocks and watches at Antique RoadShow-type events and is a licensed auctioneer. He consistently sees prices dropping, such as American tall case clocks, 80 to 95 years old, valued at $20,000, going for only $500 to $1,000, much to the disappointment of the seller.

Through his work Robinson constantly meets people, a few well known, including the late country star Roy Clark. Robinson repaired a clock for Clark’s parents in Keysville and met the singer, who had come home for a little deer hunting. And others, less known but just as interesting, including the Swiss Commercial attaché who hired him to repair the American Ansonia schoolhouse clock he had picked up in South Africa and then invited Robinson

to his wedding.

In 2016, Robinson accepted a request to repair a 1910 clock topping the historic 18th century Steeple Building in Christiansted, St Croix, Virgin Islands. The United States purchased St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John for $25 million in 1917 and the Virgin Islands became U.S. territories. Five years later, the U.S. Navy gave the clock to the residents of Christiansted to commemorate the purchase, but after a century, no one is sure why the Navy chose a clock as a gift. The people of Christiansted did know, however, that they missed hearing their clock chime. It had fallen silent in 2010.

Under Robinson’s touch, the clock

chimed again, counting the hours, on the hour, every hour, by the Transfer Day Centennial Celebration in March 2017.

“I enjoy bringing something that old back to life again and I enjoy meeting the people,” he said. “I enjoy meeting the collectors and sharing what I know with people who want to learn.”

Asked for the best advice he could give owners of antique timepieces, Robinson emphasized maintenance. Antique clock works require oiling every three years. If the owner doesn’t know how to do that, he said, they should call a trusted professional who cares about their work rather than rely on a YouTube video for do-it-yourself directions.

Rick Robinson prefers clocks over teaching because clocks "don't talk back."

'It's art and it's pure creation'

Smithfield musician joins with bluegrass performers across the U.S. in The Auld Country

Story by Stephen Faleski Submitted photos

The Auld Country isn't your typical bluegrass band.

Jesse Burdick, the band's primary banjo player and founder, lives in Smithfield; the other three members reside across the country from Connecticut to California.

When Burdick met multi-instrumentalist Geddy Miller of Connecticut in June at the Jenny Brook Bluegrass Festival in Tunbridge, Vermont, he asked Miller to visit Virginia in August to play alongside him at the Galax Old Fiddler's Convention. That's where he came up with the concept for The Auld Country: a group of friends from all over the world who were up for an adventure as a touring bluegrass band.

After pitching the idea at Galax, Burdick and Miller were offered showcase spots as The Auld Country at the 2022 IBMA World of Bluegrass Festival in Raleigh, North Carolina. A few weeks later, he called Nick Beato of Colorado, whom he'd met the previous year at the Jenny Brook fall campout in Tunbridge, and asked Beato to join the burgeoning group.

“Nick definitely caught my ear as a tight mandolin player and singer,” Burdick said.

Burdick had met Dave Gooding of California, who would become the band's fourth member, while performing virtually at the 2020 IBMA World of Bluegrass Festival. That year, the festival was streamed online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but “in my memory, it stands out as one of the best,” Burdick said.

Gooding, an upright bass player, is the former president of the California Bluegrass Association. Burdick is originally from Rhode Island, home to the top 10 largest bluegrass music associations in the United States.

“I called Dave on somewhat short notice to join us for our 2022 IBMA World of Bluegrass Festival and he stepped right up to the plate,” Burdick said.

The 2022 World of Bluegrass Festival served as The Auld Country's debut as a four-member band.

“It was a complete honor,” Burdick said. “The International Bluegrass Music Association provides the perfect proving ground to get honest feedback, encouragement and mentoring. Their yearly conference exemplifies that.”

Some of the band's members have been

playing bluegrass music since childhood; others have only entered the genre within the past decade. But Burdick and his band members each hold themselves to high standards. “It's not just us standing in a line parroting songs in a bar,” Burdick said. “It's art and it's pure creation.”

Burdick had recorded a solo album in 2017 titled “Hops & Spirits,” with Marshall Wilborn, Anthony Wray and Chad

The Auld Country, formed in 2022, consists of four musicians from across the country, one of whom is based in Smithfield.

Graves of the Hillbenders, IBMA Mandolin Player of The Year Alan Bibey, Bill Thibodeau of The Rock Hearts, and U.S. Navy band Country Current fiddle player Patrick McAvinue. The album, which wasn’t released until this year, features a mix of original bluegrass tunes and classics, including a cover of “The Prisoner’s Last Wish” by Bill Hall.

The Auld Country is currently working on putting out its first group album, which will feature a song written by Miller called “Daddy's Pride,” inspired by Miller's birthplace of Cedar Hill, Missouri.

“We're kind of steering away from traditional because that's what everybody's heard before; that's what will attract 'freebee' crowds,” Burdick said.

“Freebee crowds” are also the reason Burdick rarely plays gigs in Smithfield.

As a past member of the Isle of Wight County Chamber of Commerce, Burdick was put in touch with a client looking for a bluegrass act, “and after explaining the fee, was told that they instead would

have a family member do it for free,” he said. “Time-wasters abound in this area, and the sad 'normal' is a combination of

hobby acts who will perform for 'tens of dollars' and the predatory hiring practices of venues that just want background noise for liquor sales. It hurts everybody. Bars get low-quality acts, the low-quality acts get comfortable being low-quality, and the bottom line of working acts is reduced.”

Burdick operates the band as a branch of Riverside Studios LLC, a company he founded after working for a season with bluegrass singer and mandolin player Travers Chandler and his band Avery County, which disbanded in 2016.

“I decided I wanted to be my own boss, so I went and started an LLC for everything I love to do and make,” Burdick said. “This includes performance, recording, production, lessons, and all sorts of content creation,” including tabletop roleplaying and comics.

“Most importantly, it allows a high degree of transparency between myself and The Auld Country,” Burdick said. “Everybody knows exactly where they stand and they can expect dependable pay.”

Jesse Burdick

Where am I?

In each edition, the Slice staff provides a challenge of sorts, testing how much of Isle of Wight and Surry counties you really know. We photograph some location that is readily accessible and open to the public, and see if you can tell us where it is.

If you know where this photo was taken, submit your answer, along with your name and contact information, to news@smithfieldtimes.com. If you’re right, you will be entered for a chance to win a $25 gift card.

So, if you know where this is, let us know. If you’re right, you could be a winner. Go out and enjoy!

Last edition’s Where Am I?

The Where Am I? challenge in the Winter 2022 edition of Slice featured a lovely gate. The gate leads to the yard of the Jordan/Parker house at 203 Main St. in the historic district but can be seen on Mason between Main and Cedar. Nine people were able to identify the location. Christy Archer has won the $25 gift certificate to The Christmas Store. Check out page 20 for this edition's challenge.