Isle of Wight County Museum
Smithfield Center
LUNCH & LEARN: Smithfield’s 1921 Wharf Fire
When: August 17, 2023 12:30 PM until 01:00 PM Eastern Time Zone
Lecture
Event Details:
LUNCH & LEARN: Smithfield’s 1921 Wharf Fire
12:30 p.m., Thursday, August 17, 2023
Today marks the 102nd anniversary of the huge fire that radically changed the town’s economy. Citizens raced down to the docks to the loud screams of steamboat whistles and the clanging of church bells. The conflagration consumed most of the industry that had made Smithfield “The peanut capital of the world” and was only stopped by the well-timed arrival of Suffolk’s new “motor pump” fire engine. Come to the museum to learn the dramatic story of the blaze that turned the town’s focus from peanuts to ham.
Location: Isle of Wight County Museum, 103 Main Street, Smithfield, VA, 23430
Made in the U.S.A.