Marshall Rabil: Hubbard Peanut Company (Sedley, VA)

In 1954, when Dot Hubbard wanted to start a Virginia peanut mail order business from her home in Sedley, VA, there was no system for zip codes in the United States. UPS wasn't operating in Virginia and FedEx had not yet been founded. Nevertheless, Hubbard Peanut Company was born, with business phones on party lines and a fine recipe for cooking Super Extra Large Virginia peanuts. Marshall Rabil is her grandson, and remembers riding on the conveyor belt in the early 80's as a child. He has a passion for peanuts, for the beautiful slice of the state he calls home, and the idea of how his family business just might help strengthen that community. Virginia was the first known North American location for peanuts to be planted -- a crop brought over by enslaved Africans -- and today Hubs peanuts are some of the state's tastiest exports, and don't even get me started about that peanut brittle.