Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Family, Parenting and Religion
Witheringtons in a Pickle

Witheringtons in a Pickle

Last updated on: September 11, 2023 at 1:52 am by Ben Witherington

Witheringtons in a Pickle 2023-08-21T18:57:20-04:00 Ben Witherington

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

One part of our Witherington heritage I had not sufficiently explored is our connections to the Mt. Olive Pickle Company which still today is located in Mt. Olive North Carolina, a town of about 5,000 people about half of whom work at this plant, which today is the largest pickle company in the U.S. and probably in the world. The company was founded Jan. 2 1926 (and soon will reach its 1ooth anniversary), and its part of the Witherington heritage I’m very proud of. One of the Founders and the major financial manager of this company was Isham Faison Witherington, my grandfather Ben Witherington’s first cousin. The company was founded when Isham had only recently established his insurance company in Mt. Olive after graduating with honors from UNC. He was chosen by Mr. Baddour and George Moore because of his business acumen and good Christian character, being a stalwart at the local Presbyterian church. Since both Mr. Baddour and Mr. Moore were gone by 1928, it was left to Isham and the Board of director/ share holders to steer the company through the Great Depression, and WWII to enormous success. Isham was still doing this in 1955 when he had a stroke and died at Chapel Hill Hospital from complications. Today, his grandson, Faison Hester is one of the directors. Now I had known a bit about all this from growing up in High Point and having cousins who were Hesters, also related to those in Mt. Olive and to the Witheringtons. My Faison relatives lived just down the road in Calypso, and various Witheringtons and Faisons and Hesters are buried in Mt. Olive or Faison. Interestingly, there were other connections because my father was from nearby Goldsboro as was Mr. Baddour, and NOW the mt. Olive Pickle company has just opened a new plant in Goldsboro providing over 100 new jobs. This has become a multi-million dollar business. Today, you will see below the dozens of brine tanks curing the cucumbers, which can hold up to— wait for it— 40 million pickles. But let’s let the pictures tell the story.

Here below is Isham Faison Witherington, as a young man at UNC from the yearbook, and then as a grown man running the company.

And here we are, my sister Laura, my wife Ann, and myself, at the edge of the main pickle plant on the corner of Cucumber Blvd and Vine, which used to be the corner of Witherington and Center St. None of this would have been possible without the incredible help of the customer service agent for the company— Melissa Kilpatrick, she was a wonderful guide generous with her time.

We were not allowed to take pictures inside, but outside was fine, so here come the cucumbers into the processing plant…

They will end up in glass pickle jars. Thousands upon thousands of cucumbers, become pickles through the pickling process, which involves brine with Mediterranean salt, which has a higher saline content. Here are the brine vats…. note the floating pickles

Here are a couple of vintage photos of the workers in the plant. One of the most fascinating parts was watching the workers literally pound pickles into the glass jars with a soft mallet so as to fit as many as possible in each jar. And then labels are slapped onto the bottles and they are boxed up for shipping. This compnay is so dominant they even make pickles for all the Walmarts, putting the Walmart Pride label on the jars.

Here’s the mascot, which shows up at the annual pickle festival which occurs the last Saturday in April.

Here are a sample of the final product, the most popular of which are the dill spears. When you visit the small downtown with the train running right down the main street, you see how proud the town is of Mt. Olive Pickle Company— note the two painted murals on the walls..,.

Local artists do pickle paintings for sale…

Even Minions come to town for the pickles!

As we left town, we found the First Presbyterian Church where Isham and his family attended.

Family, Parenting and Religion

Food and Religion

Uncategorized

Witheringtons in a pickle

Previous Post

September 10, 2023

The Fort Fisher Ferry and Southport

Next Post

September 12, 2023 Ten Things that Make No Sense at the Beach

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz