Smithfield, Virginia...Ham Capitol of the World and a nice geocaching city tour

Smithfield waterfront

One of six decorated pigs in town

The old stocks at the Old Courthouse

A chat with Ben in front of the local newspaper office

Bdramatic's pathtag

We approached Smithfield from the east. We were in Newport News so we left the peninsula via the James River Bridge and picked up some nice geocaches on the way. This town is famous for its hams. As we approached from the southeast the first thing we saw was the town's waterfront. It was full of shops. The waterfront buildings are beautiful. From there we went to Main Street to find the tourist information center. After getting oriented we headed out on our walking tour of Smithfield. Our first stop was a store/restaurant called "A Taste of Smithfield". It was fun to go through the shop that specializes in selling hams and peanuts. The samples were great there. We left with a stock of chocolate covered peanuts. We visited the Old Courthouse next. It wasn't open but the prisoner stocks out front made for a good photo. We moved on to the city museum. At the museum we saw the oldest ham, the largest ham and saw a video on the city's record breaking "World's Largest Ham Biscuit". The museum was free and worth the time. The town's tourism center has joined up with local geocachers to incorporate some caches into their walking tour. We visited and enjoyed finding Brick Walk (GC11VZ8). The historical houses that are beautifully preserved will take your breathe away. The coffee shops and bakery will draw you in just by the aroma. Of course one of our favorite caches was a simple park and grab at the tourism office. After completing the walking tour we headed out of town to the southwest. We stopped to grab Hot N Cold (GC2WJQ5). We pulled into the parking lot of the business next door. It was just a short walk across the grass to the GZ for the cache so off I went. I started my search and was coming up empty. I'm the type who feels somewhat shy about searching for a cache where I know I'm probably being watched. Usually when I find that a cache is in front of someone's workplace where they can observe you from their desk, I'll avoid it. So, with the cache eluding me I headed for the car. Just then a voice calls out, "You aren't giving up yet are you?". It was one of the co-owners of the cache and she encouraged me to give it another shot. I did and was still coming up short so she gave me a good hint. Not only did she give me a hint she brought me one of her pathtags as a reward for my tenacity. It was a pleasure meeting bdramatic! We said good-bye before hitting the road on a long trip to High Point, NC. We really enjoyed our visit to Smithfield and hope that you'll get the chance to visit too!