In 1608 Captain John Smith journeyed to the Warrosquoyacke (War-a-squoy-ak) Native American area on the south bank of the James River to barter for food for the hungry Jamestown settlers.  But Smithfield settlement was not named in his honor, but for Arthur Smith who, in 1637, patented 1,450 acres in Isle of Wight County.  The county’s name recognized the home of many of the area’s settlers who came from England’s channel island.  In 1750, Arthur Smith IV had the land surveyed and laid out the town of Smithfield with four streets and 72 lots.  In two years 59 lots were sold, each for four pounds, six shillings.  By the time of the American Revolution all the lots in Smithfield were sold. 

When you take an Old Towne Walking Tour of Smithfield you will see more than 15 structures from the 18th century.  The tour, including over 60 points of interest, starts at The Old Courthouse and Clerk’s Office at 130 Main Street.   The courthouse, built in 1750, was the first building to stand in the new town of Smithfield.  Architectural historians believe the rounded end of the main courtroom was copied from the Old Capitol in Williamsburg.  When restoration was done at Williamsburg, workman came to Smithfield to study the copy in order to replace the original that had burned in 1749.  The Smithfield courthouse was used until 1800, when the court was moved to the county seat, Isle Of Wight.  (You can see the 1800 Courthouse after your walking tour, outside town on Route 258, Courthouse Road.) The 1750 Smithfield Courthouse was restored by the Isle of Wight branch of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities and today it serves as a visitor center, open daily 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.  It is closed on major holidays.  Be sure to stop in and pick up a walking tour map. 

      Another Main Street tour stop should be The Isle of Wight Museum.  Formerly a bank its architectural features include a Tiffany-style dome skylight,  marble floor and decorative tile.  Permanent exhibits include local fossils and Native American artifacts as well as a room-size country store with old post office boxes, a pot-bellied stove, an array of pharmaceuticals and even a Smithfield ham.  Another exhibit explains Smithfield’s meat packing industries.  There are always changing exhibits as well.  The main gallery also has a small theater showing a 15-minute slide program on the history of the region.  Museum hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday from 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M., Friday 10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. and Sunday 1:00 to 5:00 P.M.  Admission is free.

The Todd House, stop seven on the tour at 22 Main Street, was built by cabinet maker Nicholas Parker in 1753.  However, by 1767, it was the home of Captain Mallory Todd who started the business of curing and shipping hams that has made Smithfield world famous.  Joyner’s Smithfield Ham Shop at 315 Main Street and Smithfield Foods continues the tradition Todd started.

The Grove, at 220 Grace Street, has an interesting history.  Thomas Pierce’s estate, begun in 1780, once stood in a grove of oak trees, but they were cut and sold to the Russian navy during the Crimean War.  In 1956, the house was restored by Lieutenant Governor and Mrs. A.E.S. Stephens.

Stop 21 of the walking tour puts you back on Main Street, #336 to #346, for Victorian Row.   Five late-Victorian homes have typical embellishments such as bay fronts and gingerbread trim.  Another delightful Victorian is the Pembroke Decatur Gwaltney House at 226 S. Church Street (stop 48).  Built in 1876, until 1995 this house remained in the same family that founded the peanut business in Smithfield and later opened a meat curing and packing company.  Stop 49, is Smithfield’s most photographed Victorian house, built in 1901 for Pembroke Decatur Gwaltney, Jr.  Farther down Church Street is the Goodrich House (stop 53), the only Victorian house in town with a Mansard roof and colored-glass cupola.

      The last stop on the walking tour is Windsor Castle, built around 1750 by town founder Arthur Smith, IV.   This stucco-covered brick house is probably not the first to be built on Smith’s land.  Actually, you might want to reclaim your car and drive to this Jericho Road house, although it is within Smithfield’s Historic District.

Two miles south of Smithfield on Route 10 is St. Luke’s Church.  Known locally as “Old Brick”, it is the country’s only original Gothic church and the oldest existing church of English foundation in America.  Vestry records indicate that the church was begun in 1632,  several years before the Tower Church at Jamestown was started in 1638/39.  The Mother Church of Warrosquyoake County had a congregation of 522 in 1634.  It took more than four years to finish the exterior and more time was spent on interior touches.  Gothic elements include buttresses, stepped gables, brick-traceried windows, a medieval timber-trussed roof structure and a three-story tower.

Records indicate that the interior was not finished immediately, in fact, there was a lapse of almost 25 years.  The interior is Jacobean.  From the founding fathers to modern worshipers, for more than 300 years prayers have been said in St. Luke’s.

      A number of the interior pieces have survived from the 17th century including a communion table and chairs, a silver baptismal font, silver wine ewers and candlesticks and a 1665 English organ.  The church did not weather the vissitudes of time without being threatened.  During the American Revolution, British troops under Colonel Tarleton (see Carter’s Grove selection) camped in the church yard. St. Luke’s Church at 14477 Benns Church Road is open 9:30 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. Tuesday through Saturday and 1:00 to 4:00 P.M. on Sunday.  It is closed on Mondays and major holidays, and during the month of January.

From St. Luke’s it is just a short drive down Route 17 to Ragged Island Wildlife Management Area at the foot of the James River Bridge.  If you didn’t do enough walking in Smithfield, you’ll enjoy the nature trails and the panoramic view of the James River.  You might want to bring binoculars as this is an excellent vantage point from which to spot a wide diversity of birds.

     There’s another park north of Smithfield that is also worth exploring and that is Fort Boykin Historic Park.  A nature trail reveals traces of Fort Boykin, an installation that was part of American history from 1623 through every military campaign fought on American soil.  Captain Roger Smyth received a commission to build the fort on May 11, 1623 to protect the colonists against, “Spaniards by sea and Indians by land.”  Smyth called his fort “The Castle” because of its imposing position on a steep cliff overlooking the James River.  Refortified during the American Revolution, it stood guard over the James River, receiving its name from Major Francis Boykin, who served on General George Washington’s staff.

Prior to the War of 1812, the fort was restructured in a seven-point star shape.  This is the outline you see today.  Local legend claims that the guns of Fort Boykin sank two British men-of-war during the second war with England.  An attempted English landing was repulsed.

Refortified during the Civil War to protect the access to Richmond, it was discovered that guns from ships on the river could reach the fort but the fort’s guns couldn’t retaliate.  The Confederates abandoned the fort and the Union forces landed and destroyed both of the forts magazines and burned all of the outbuildings.  During the brief southern occupation, the Alabama poet Sidney Lanier was stationed at Fort Boykin.   In the several months he spent at the fort, Lanier wrote several poems and started work on a novel.

Between 1862 and 1908 the fort reverted to wilderness, but efforts by a number of dedicated enthusiasts restored the ground.  Today the trail takes visitors past a Civil War gun salient, the location of the old parade ground, two magazines, a well and flag mound.  Flowers now grow where soldiers once marched.  The fort is open daily from 9:00 A.M. to dusk.  There are picnic tables and grills.  From the high bluff overlooking the James River there is an excellent view of the Navy’s “Mothball Fleet,” of ships no longer in active service.