Feeling 122: World’s Oldest Ham celebrates ‘birthday’
Published 7:34 pm Monday, July 15, 2024
- Leigh Ann Harrison and Payton Brock of Windsor Girl Scout Troop 5114 enjoy cake at the July 13 celebration of the World’s Oldest Ham’s 122nd birthday. (Photos by Stephen Faleski | The Smithfield Times)
The World’s Oldest Ham is feeling 22 – 122, that is.
The Isle of Wight County Museum hosted a Taylor Swift-themed 122nd birthday party for the ham on July 13, which included singing along to Swift’s “22” song.
The celebration, held annually in July but not always on the same day, marks the date when Smithfield hams were traditionally ready for consumption after a curing process that would begin in the fall or winter.
In 1902, one of P.D. Gwaltney Jr.’s Smithfield hams went overlooked and for 20 years hung from a rafter inside a packing house. When Gwaltney found it in the 1920s, he fashioned a brass collar for it, calling it his “pet,” and took it on a nationwide tour touting it as the world’s oldest and evidence of the preservative powers of his curing method. The museum gained custody of the ham in 1985. Earlier this year, the museum gained custody of the last Genuine Smithfield Ham after Smithfield Foods discontinued the brand. It joined the world’s oldest, the world’s largest, and a 1930s-branded ham.
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- Ben LoPresti sits with his children Anna, Theo and Baxter, for a story read by Blackwater Regional Library outreach services manager Megan Wilson.
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- Virginia White of Smithfield checks in her stuffed animal for the night with Museum Curator Rachel Popp.
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- Molly Witten joins in for story time.
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- Mason Witten and Madeline Rivera listen with their stuffed animals to Megan Wilson as she reads the book “Dino Pajama Party” to them.
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- Rachel Popp receives a temporary tattoo from Mary-Elise Alworth, dressed as Taylor Swift.
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- Museum Assistant Nancy Farrell serves birthday cake.
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- Elizabeth Ward hands cake slices to her daughters, Eleanor and Bonnie.
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- Zaianiah Wise, Malayiah Brodie, and Nya and Aubrey Wise, show their enthusiasm for the World’s Oldest Ham’s 122nd birthday.
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- Husband and wife Trevor and Kelsey Burton of Chesapeake tour the museum.
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- Albert Burckard, dressed as P.D. Gwaltney Jr. with a replica World’s Oldest Ham, poses with a cardboard cutout of Gwaltney.
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- Luke, Karen and Carl Leimer made the trip from Portsmouth to celebrate the World’s Oldest Ham’s 122nd birthday and tour the museum.
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- Avery Boardman poses for a photo with “P.D. Gwaltney Jr.,” portrayed by Albert Burckard. (Photo courtesy of Jennifer England)
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- Carrollton resident Phineas Spratley, 8, and York, Pennsylvania, resident Quillen Keefer, 4, search for shark teeth. (Photo courtesy of Jennifer England)
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story had misspelled Ben LoPresti’s last name.
