Here in Minnesota it is also an unheard of item. I used to go to Cracker Barrel, and they usually had a whole ham available for sale. Haven't done that for a few years now, though. Not currently listed on their website, but you could ask. It looks like they also offer various repackaged meat items from Berger's Smokehouse...so there is always mail order from that source.
Not a Southern Boy by any stretch of the imagination, but when we made trips to the "East", my Dad insisted on driving back roads looking for farmhouses with roadside signs advertising "hams for sale". He insisted they were always the best, not like those "factory" operations. I'm sure those are long gone in this age of USDA inspections, etc.