Isle Of Wight County Museum

This is amazing place to learn history of Smithfield, the documents and photographs are very interesting. After, visiting the museum take a stroll through downtown and visit the many small business and do a little shopping. Don’t forget to make a donation to the museum in your way out.

Small unique and interesting and it’s worth taking an hour and walking through this museum
Once your done at this museum is a good idea to go over to
The interesting African-​American school house museum

What the… how is this not reviewed on Unilocal yet?
One hundred and eight years ago, Pembroke Decatur Gwaltney, Jr., scion of the Gwaltney Foods Empire, discovered and befriended a ham that his factory’s shippers had accidentally left behind. He saved it, wanting to see how long the Gwaltney curing process would keep it «alive.»
As the decades went by, he and the ham grew closer. He called it his pet. He bought it a brass collar. He insured it for $ 5,000. He took it to state fairs. I am not making any of this up.
The ham lasted longer than he did. But the people of Smithfield have carried the torch of his devotion through the ages. Today, it’s kept in the reverential silence of the three-​room Isle of Wight County Museum, with veritable handfuls of people paying homage every month. A bored-​looking seventy-​year-​old woman reading a book stands solitary guard, and also sells T-​shirts and will take a picture of you with the ham if you ask nicely.
Yes, you read that right: This is a museum dedicated to a desiccated ham. Its official title is The World’s Oldest Edible Cured Ham, though considering the fact that it is now black, I don’t really think the claim to edibility is accurate. Bonus with the $ 0 cost of admission are exhibits featuring the World’s Largest Cured Ham, The World’s Oldest Peanut, The World’s Largest Ham Biscuit* (the asterisk means «just pictures, because we ate it several years ago»), and several other peanuts and hams that are not notable but are there because you can’t create a museum out of just two hams and a peanut. There is also a reproduction general store, complete with mannequins that reminisce about the good old days of Smithfield — in rhyming verse, no less — if you push a button.
Every road-​tripping lover of kitschy Americana has their bucket list: the world’s largest twine ball, the muffler men of the American west, whatever. If you’re one of those people, the Isle of Wight County Museum should be on yours.