Manassas-Based Surry Shop Peanuts Has Lasting Power Since 1980s Founding

MANASSAS, VA — It was just a few months into founding Surry Shop Peanuts in the 1980s that the business had a breakthrough. A 1984 New York Times article on mail order foods promoted Surry Shop Peanuts as selling peanuts with "deep flavor not found in the ordinary roasted peanut."

That led to an influx of peanut orders from New York. Soon, Surry Shop Peanuts' reach expanded even farther as the article appeared as syndicated content in other local newspapers around the country.

"Suddenly, I started getting peanut orders from Nebraska, you know, how in the world?" owner Martha Wilson told Patch. "And so because of that, I think I started the business in about October, and then by the end of my first year, I was up and running. Everything just worked.

Even with the nationwide attention, Wilson was always content with keeping the business at a small scale. Today, Surry Shop Peanuts remains a mail-order small business run online and out of her historic downtown Manassas home. The peanuts are also sold at the Manassas Olive Oil Company location and Manassas Museum Gift Shop.

"I'm very content not to be a big business. I like being a small business," Wilson told Patch. "I couldn't have done it without my family, not just my husband, who really drives down, picks them up, does everything, hauls them in, but my children, all three boys. They all did the work, and then when they grew up and got married, their spouses came and worked the peanut fairs."

Surry Shop Peanuts is a reference to the historic Old Glebe House in that Wilson's parents bought in Surry, Virginia when she was in college. That house, now 300 years old, had a peanut farming allotment. Her parents rented the plot to a peanut farmer, who grew peanuts as a rotation crop every three years.

According to Wilson, Virginia peanuts don't just mean peanuts that originate from Virginia. She says Virginia peanuts are a specific type of peanuts grown in part of Virginia — around Surry and Sussex counties.

"The soil is very important and the composition of the soils," said Wilson. "These two counties just happen to have the things that are necessary. The soil, the sandy soil is important, is essential, and a long growing season they have."

Later on, when Wilson was married and had two young children, she had left the teaching profession and wanted something to do at home. A family friend in Surry let her know about a man going into the peanut roasting business, and they teamed up to create a private label known as Surry Shop Peanuts.

The peanuts are largely packed up and shipped from Sussex County, where they are cooked. Wilson still does some mail orders from her Manassas home and replenishes the stock at the Manassas Olive Oil Company.

"I spent a lot of time doing mail order from the house and going to craft fairs," said Wilson. "It never got to be a great big business, but it was enough."

Surry Shop Peanuts' products were originally cooked in small batches with hot oil, and they are now produced in larger vats. Customers can find more than a dozen varieties, from traditional salted, lemon crab, jalapeño, and Cajun spice to sweeter varieties like chocolate-covered peanuts and chocolate-covered peanut brittle. Another favorite is one Wilson's husband came up with — the Jubilation Mix with peanuts, cashews, chocolate, candies and craisins.

Along with running her mail-order business, Wilson has enjoyed living in a historic Manassas home. She noted her home was the first built on Grant Avenue and was originally owned by Judge J. B. T. Thornton. The home was also close to where President William Taft attended the Civil War 50th anniversary known as the Manassas Peace Jubilee in 1911.

"To celebrate the 50th anniversary of something like the first battle of the Civil War, they had a reunion at the courthouse, and the veterans from the Civil War marched up Lee [Street] and the veterans from the north marched up Grant [Avenue]. And they met, they hugged, they this is what I've read," said Wilson. "And they exchanged, some of them exchanged weapons, and it was a big event, and they have a plaque for it at the courthouse, which I can see from this window."

Wilson said Taft later visited what is now her house when a lunch was moved from Annaburg Manor to Judge J. B. T. Thornton's home.

Today, Wilson continues to enjoy living in Manassas. She says the mayor and City Council continue to be accessible and have a goal of keeping the city's small town feel.

"We can walk to everything. We can walk to the farmers market in the summer and in the winter, they have events," said Wilson. "Then they turn the pavilion into an ice skating rink in the winter, and it's all walkable. And I think we have really, really fabulous restaurants downtown, and they're all within walking distance to me, and the people, we have great friends here."

Wilson has a message of gratitude for customers who have supported Surry Shop Peanuts in its more than four decades.

"I do have customers that I have had from the beginning, and that's the years of them being my customers, and I'm very, very grateful to them," said Wilson.

Visit surryshoppeanuts.com for more information.

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