Isle of Wight County Museum

Founded in 1976 in Smithfield, Virginia, the Isle of Wight County Museum preserves the history of Isle of Wight County and nearby communities through exhibits on pre-colonial and colonial life, the Blackwater River, the Civil War, the Cold War, and Smithfield’s ham industry. It opened in the eighteenth-century Gaming House before moving in 1979 to the former Bank of Smithfield and expanding in 1990 into the adjacent Folk Building. Among its most memorable features are a recreated country store and the famed cured ham linked to P. D. Gwaltney Jr., displayed as evidence of his smoking method. After severe flood damage in 2006, a broad recovery effort helped the museum reopen in 2008.

Smithfield, Virginia · United States