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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
Support
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 "Tootsie" Harwood

William “Tootsie” Harwood was born in the 1936 in Gloucester County, Virginia, the son of a farmer. Originally a postmaster, Tootsie managed a farm on the side and saw farming as a lifestyle, not a career. In 1980, he quit his job with the United States Postal Service and began to farm full time. Since then, Tootsie, his brother-in-law, and son, have grown corn, soybeans, and wheat. They lease 1,200 acres of land in Gloucester and Mathews counties. Harwood also raises and slaughters hogs. He uses family recipes to cure hams and sausages. His sausage and cuts of locally grown pork attract buyers across the South. Harwood donates surplus pork to food banks in the Tidewater. In his free time, he searches his land for historic artifacts dating back to the seventeenth century.

Date of interview:
2018-05-20

Interviewer:
Patrick Daglaris

Photographer:
Beth Wood

Download Transcript

“

“People got to eat. Future farmers got to go, got to be here. That's all there is to it. There's no farmers, no eatin'.”

Other Project Interviews

Interview

William Barnhardt

William Barnhardt owns and manages Willaby’s in White Stone, 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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