About World’s Oldest Ham
The Isle of Wight County Museum contains a ham that was cured in 1902 and somehow went on to have a longer public career than most people.
The ham began as a product of P.D. Gwaltney Jr. and Company in Smithfield. It was overlooked in a packing house and remained hanging from a rafter for roughly twenty years. Instead of finally being discarded, it became useful as a demonstration of the preservation qualities associated with Smithfield ham.
P.D. Gwaltney Jr. embraced the discovery. By 1924, the ham was kept in an iron safe that could be opened for guests. Gwaltney fitted it with a brass collar and took it to shows and exhibitions. It later appeared in Ripley’s Believe It or Not and became known as the world’s oldest Smithfield ham.
The preserved ham now lives at the Isle of Wight County Museum, which calls itself home to both the World’s Oldest Ham and the World’s Oldest Peanut. The ham has been treated less like forgotten food and more like a local celebrity, complete with a live Ham Cam. A piece of meat that should have disappeared into lunch more than a century ago instead became a museum resident.