If the Beaumont Inn didn't offer the "Beaumont Dinner" - a combination of country ham and fried chicken I'd have to stay over for a second dinner to eat both.

But if given only one choice it would have been the country ham. I maintain it's the best country ham in the U.S. I haven't tasted every country ham in the U.S., but Beaumont's is so much better than anything else I've tasted, I'm comfortable with my claim.

The Beaumont Inn buys one year aged country ham from local farmers and then hangs and ages them for a second year. Cutting into them is like opening a bottle of vintage wine. You are never sure what it will be like. The color is like a deep red leather, very dark. The taste is incredibly complex. A soft saltiness and so much more. Melt in your mouth tender.

The Beaumont Inn serves up a mighty fine country breakfast too. Patty sausage, grits, "cat head" biscuits and gravy, eggs and fresh fruit. "Cat head" biscuits are called that because they're the size of a cat's head.

Aug 7,2003