Winning Blue Ribbons and Grand Champion awards at the highly competitive Virginia State Fair competitions was always a happy occasion for our family. Here, Dad (Wallace Jr., left) and I celebrate one of 14 such awards with my Mom, Vonnie, and Grandmother, Oneita.
A Taste of Virginia Tradition
The S. Wallace Edwards and Sons Story
In 1925, a southern gentleman and the lady he courted became husband and wife. They began their life together in the small village of Surry, Virginia (population 300).
The following year, S. Wallace Edwards, young captain of the Jamestown-Scotland ferryboat, began serving ham sandwiches to his ferry passengers....sandwiches made from ham he salt-cured and hickory smoked on his Edwards family farm.
The demand for his ham grew so quickly that Captain Edwards soon began curing and selling hams on a full-time basis. Meanwhile, his young wife, Oneita, contributed from home by cooking hams and raising their two children, Oneita Mae and Wallace Jr. As word of the "Edwards Virginia Ham" spread, the young Edwards family began shipping their products throughout the country.
Today, Edwards smokehouses are still located in Surry County, close to the spot where the Indians first taught the English colonists the secret of bringing out the full flavor in meats. The Edwards family has been honored to demonstrate their art of curing hams at the Smithsonian Institution Folklife Festival, and received many State Fair of Virginia Blue Ribbon and Grand Champion awards for their hams and bacon.
Over the past eight decades, Edwards emphasis has always been on superior quality of its smoked meats, not the maximum quantity it can produce. Under its third generation of family managment, S. Wallace Edwards and Sons remains a thriving business dedicated to producing the finest quality smoked meat products...and extending the vision and legacy of its founder, S. Wallace Edwards, Sr.