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Jesup, Georgia 31545

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

75

Sense-of-taste memories help to build sense of place

My friends say I have a hickory-smoke detector on my trucks front bumper. Not really, but my nose does a good job of sniffing out new barbecue joints. No matter where I am, Im always looking for a place that reminds me of The Pig. So far, I havent found anything that compares to sitting on one of Sine and Vada Aspinwalls red-vinyl stools and watching Gussie Priester stab a hunk of pork with a pitchfork in that open pit. I can still hear the cleaver chopping my sandwich, and the taste of their sauce lingers55 years later. Jesup has morphed into a different place from my youth, but restaurantsmostly gone, like The Pigwere a part of embedding an irreplaceable closeness to this community. I guess that collective sense of taste helped me develop a sense of place. Going out to eat, after church on Sunday, was a special treat. Do you remember Susie Jones serving meals in her two-story home on the corner of Plum and Second streets? Business boomed, and she expanded to the current location on Cherry Street. James and Carol Brown now own Jones Kitchen. Another popular Sunday spot was Dave Madrays Bon Air Restaurant, attached to the motel. Barney Gilmore greeted you at the door. As a kid, I was always fascinated, craning my neck to read the map on

My Opinion

the ceiling. I-95 hadnt left the drawing boards, so 301 had steady streams of north- and southbound traffic. DINK Homer NeSMITH Johnson hit Chairman pay dirt with his Dairy Ranch. Today, Brenda Lane continues to sell those hand-cut and battered French fries by the truck loads. Do you remember having Charlie or Claudia Johnson making you a pecan milk shake at Stuckeys? How about getting Myrtice Warren or her staff to rattle off the 28 flavors of Howard Johnsons ice cream? I guess my first fried shrimp were eaten at Wilfred and Bertie Bowens Cherokee Restaurant. As a teenager, I would go to Smiths Drug Store for lunch with my dad. Over pork chops, mashed potatoes, field peas, cornbread and iced tea, you could get W.Y. Smith or his pharmacist son Warrens take on the days news. Occasionally, wed venture over to Mary Easons 301 Caf in front of the post office. I dont remember eating at the Chatterbox or at its fore-

runner, Genes Barbecue, but they were popular, too. I spent plenty of time at Knights Drug Stores soda fountain. In high school, the 50-yard line of taste buds and hormones was the Dairy Queen on the corner of Pine and Macon streets. A.B. and Myrtle Morgan handed out burgers, fries and shakes by the tons. In the parking lot, thousands of romances were started and ended. The DQ was where it was happening. As soon as you got your drivers license, thats where you headed. And do you recall the excitement when James Harper and his associates opened Candyland? Jesup was moving uptown, out on the edge of town. And the Kiwi caused a stir, too. About that time, I remember taking dates to Roses on U.S. 301 South for an Italian meal. John Puccios family operated the restaurant and the adjoining motel. In those days, it didnt take much to impress me, but the wine bottles with wax dripping from the candles did. On the way back, wed make bets on how many Cadillacs were parked around the newly-constructed Holiday Inn. Ahhh, times have changed. So many of the places I remember have disappeared. But their smells and tastes still give me an indelible sense of place for my hometown.
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