There are pigs in Washington County.
Many pigs.
The pigs of Washington County come in all colors, sizes and personalities. There are white pigs: Landraces, Yorkshires, Chester Whites and Welsh. Also black pigs: Hampshires and Fengjings. The Wessex Saddleback is a black pig with white stripes, and the Swabian is a white pig with black stripes. Gloucestershire Old Spots are spotted; they are calm and well-tempered, but red Durocs are fiery.
The pig population of Washington County is diverse, but all of the pigs have two things in common: they are well-fed and they are happy. Those who are familiar with pigs will tell you: a happy pig makes better bacon, perfect pork and hammier ham. The pigs of Washington County are happy, and the bacon, pork and ham are to die for.
Happy and well-fed pigs are big pigs. There are many big pigs in Washington County. Enormous pigs. Big pigs produce big slabs of bacon, humongous hams and large lovely pink pork roasts, with lots of nice pork fat.
Drive around among the rolling hills surrounding Beauneville, and you will see many pig farms nestled amongst the apple orchards, farms with enormous happy fat pigs. Pause at a farm; drive up the driveway, and lean on the fence rail surrounding the pen. You will invariably see many enormous happy fat pigs oinking and rooting around. Wave to them. They will gather around, seeking apples.
Pigs like to eat apples. Perhaps that explains why there are so many pigs in Washington County.
Another possible reason: denizens of Beauneville like to eat pork. Also bacon, ham, sausage and scrapple. After the Civil War, many Americans living in the Northeast began to prefer beef. Pork, they thought, was a meat for the lower classes.
Not so in Beauneville.
Why is this so? As is the case for so many things in Beauneville, the explanation may lay in the tastes of the founder. In Normandy, cows are for milking and not for eating; Auguste Beaune never acquired a taste for beef. On the other hand, he well remembered the tasty bacon, hams and sausages of his youth. "Zut!" he would say, to nobody in particular, slapping his forehead and thinking of the products of the charcuterie down the road from his father's farm in Normandy.
And so, the denizens of Beauneville and environs raised pigs.
At first, pigs ran loose in the streets near the Old Cider Mill, waiting for apples to fall off the wagons. Friendly farmhands, merry milkmaids, orchard boys and mill workers would throw loose apples into the crowd of porkers, setting off a chorus of oinks.
Tired of stepping in pig droppings, August Beaune banned pigs from the streets of Beauneville. So the farmers in surrounding Washington County built pens for their pigs; large and comfortable pens, with many places to root and wallow. With ample quantities of apples for feed, pig culture thrived.
In the next exhibit at the Beaune Museum, just past the apple exhibit, you can see pictures of Beauneville's famous pigs: a noble Yorkshire named Snowball; a great Hampshire named Anthracite; an enormous Wessex Saddleback named George; a Gloucestershire Old Spot named Spot; and a big red Duroc named Napoleon.
The last picture, set apart from the rest, shows a fine example of a remarkable species of pig, raised only in Beauneville. This pig is truly enormous; it has russet-brown skin with black and white spots, a long snout and erect ears. The breed is known simply as "Beauneville's Best".
The name of the pig in the picture? Daisy.
