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Oct. 12, 2019
John Egerton Prize at the Southern Festival of Books, Nashville
Oct. 24-26, 2019
2019 SFA Fall Symposium, Oxford ⟶
Dec. 9, 2019
SFA Celebrates Jenni Harris, Atlanta History Center
March 28, 2020
2020 SFA Spring Symposium, Birmingham
Oct. 8-10, 2020
2020 SFA Fall Symposium, Oxford
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the SFA
Support
the SFA
Oct. 12, 2019
John Egerton Prize at the Southern Festival of Books, Nashville
Oct. 24-26, 2019
2019 SFA Fall Symposium, Oxford ⟶
Dec. 9, 2019
SFA Celebrates Jenni Harris, Atlanta History Center
March 28, 2020
2020 SFA Spring Symposium, Birmingham
Oct. 8-10, 2020
2020 SFA Fall Symposium, Oxford

Oral Histories

The SFA oral history program documents life stories from the American South. Collecting these stories, we honor the people whose labor defines the region.

< Back to Oral History project: Tidewater Foodways

ORAL HISTORY

William Barnhardt

Willaby's

William Barnhardt was born in Richmond, in 1964. When he was a child, his parents moved to rural Urbanna, Virginia, to run a duck farm. At its height, the farm processed seven thousand ducks per day for northeastern markets. As a student at Lynchburg College, he cooked duck from his family’s farm for friends and organized local food festivals. He opened his restaurant, Willaby’s, in 1992. He maintains close relationships with local suppliers of eggs, meats, and seafood. Barnhardt moved his restaurant to the Rappahannock riverfront in 2010. Willaby’s expanded to include dinner, live music, and a brewery. Barnhardt is especially proud of his crabcakes and oyster soup, adapted from Tangier Island recipes, and his mother’s chili.

Date of interview:
2018-05-22

Interviewer:
Jessica Taylor

Photographer:
Beth Wood

Download Transcript

“

“That has been the progress of our culture, is to do things simply and to immediately gratify, because there are other things that you have to do. And nothing can be more important in your life than food. Loving people around you, maybe, yeah. But the food, that's what keeps you going.”

Other Project Interviews

Interview

William “Tootsie” Harwood

William “Tootsie” Harwood farms and raises livestock in Gloucester County, Virginia.

Interview

Susan Hill

Susan Hill owns and manages Car Wash Cafe in Kilmarnock, Virginia.

Interview

Susan “Sudy” McKnight

Sudy McKnight recounts her childhood spent at her grandfather’s general store in Mobjack Bay, Virginia.

Interview

Richard Carr

Richard Carr cooks at Berret’s Seafood Restaurant in Williamsburg, Virginia

Interview

Kevin Godsey

Kevin Godsey crabs, oysters, and fishes in Mathews County, Virginia.

Interview

Charles and Mary Alice Woerner

Charles and Mary Alice Woerner volunteer at the Church of St. Therese in Gloucester Courthouse, Virginia.

Interview

Ashley Spivey

Ashley Spivey directs the Pamunkey Indian Tribal Resource Center in King William County, Virginia.

Interview

Abigail Fine

Abigail Fine worked as a historical interpreter in the kitchens of Colonial Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Virginia.

WORKING TOGETHER

WE CAN CULTIVATE PROGRESS.

The Southern Foodways Alliance drives a more progressive future by leading conversations that challenge existing constructs, shape perspectives, and foster meaningful discussions. We reconsider the past with research, scrutiny, and documentation.

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Bill Smith Crooks Corner

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