Nelson County, Virginia
By Tommy Stafford
Every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas we are reminded of our friend, the late Earl Hamner, Jr. Earl wrote for our magazine for a number of years right after we started. I’m pretty sure he felt sorry for us in those early days stumbling around in a brand new business. He wouldn’t ever let us pay him. But always willingly accepted some great Virginia wine we often shipped to the west coast! Wintergreen Winery’s Black Rock Chardonnay was his favorite. He always held a special place in his heart for Nelson, though he’d been living in California for decades.
One of our favorites was the recipe he shared with us for his mother’s applesauce cake. It was even mentioned in The Homecoming (the pilot movie that inspired the TV series The Waltons).
Earl’s humor was one of a kind and so welcome. You can tell it from the email he sent us way back on November 17, 2006. Jane he refers to in this email is his wife. Today she still loves in their California home. Earl, sadly, passed away in March of 2016. We still miss him dearly.
We’ve kept this all of these years. He’d want us to share it with you.
Enjoy! We love it and it’s very yummy!
