Antedating "Virginia ham" to 1795 & 1803

[Joel S. Berson]

At 3/22/2010 10:56 AM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC wrote:
>Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>Caveats: NONE
>
>There is a restaurant at Mt Vernon, George Washington's home, which
>purports to serve food as George would have served his guests.  I
>believe Virginia Ham is often on the menu, so there may be a reference
>to it in his papers.

The phrase is not found on the Mt. Vernon site, but I've asked the
foundation.  (When I'm next at Widener, I can search the electronic version.)


>Or maybe he just slaughtered pigs, and the 20th/21st century
>menu-writers decided it should be called "Virginia Ham".

I trust this is not serious?  It was on the menu for John Davis when
he traveled in Virginia before 1800.  (And even if this is an
elaboration -- I think he was one of the principal elaborators of the
tale of Capt. Smith and Pocahontas -- the phrase still dates to 1803.)

Joel

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