FRANKLIN, Tenn. (WMOT) -- There are still places where you can get a taste of the quiet rural community Williamson County used to be.
One of those spots is Greer’s Country Hams just south of Franklin on Southall Road. Owner Ernie Greer learned his craft as a child.
“Two or three families would get together and kill seven or eight hogs and then process’em out. …you done everything right there at the house.”
Greer smokes the hams in his backyard. You won’t have to twist his arm too hard to get a tour. One, two and three–year-old hams hang from the second story smokehouse rafters.
“Our hams is aged like cheese, or aged like wine, you know. We take a little better care of our hams.”
These days Greer spends a lot of time on the phone with folks who’ve received one of his hams, but have no idea what to do with it.
“Now you give somebody a whole ham it scares’em to death, cause they don’t have a clue what to do with it. …there’s no tell’in, seriously, at the ham that gets thrown away because people don’t know.”
But Greer isn’t concerned that the art of ham curing may soon be lost. He’s been judging hams at the county fair for years and says there’s real talent there.
“You’ll be amazed at how far t hey’ve come in the thirteen year’s that I’ve been doin’ that. It’s amazin’. I was shore proud of ‘em.”
Greer's Tennessee Country Hams also operates a weekend restaurant next door to the smokehouse.