We had heard of the world-famous Virginia Hams and wanted to go and see the place where they originate. So, one nice day the following week, Lorri and I headed south. We took the free ferry across the James river to Surry County, and Isle of Wight County, VA. Sounds rather British doesn't it?

Here is what the ferry looked like. That's Jamestown along the shore.

Here we are on the ferry. You can tell by my hair that it was a little breezy.

This is the plantation house at "Chippokes", supposedly the oldest farm in continual production in the US.

Next stop, Smithfield, home of the Virginia Ham. For those of you who have never sampled this delicacy, just go out and buy a regular ham and add about ten pounds of salt to it and then try to eat it. There I am in the middle posing with some hams (Lorri's idea) and on the left is Lorri and Ben Franklin. I never did quite figure out what Ben was doing there.

On the way back we stopped by "Bacon's Castle" built in 1665. Mr. Bacon was no relation the the Smithfield Hams but he did lead a rebellion in 1676 called "Bacon's Rebellion". They were probably rebelling against all that salty ham. Of course the Castle was still closed for the winter so we parked at the entry gate and walked in.