Fannie Flagg, the author of "Fried Green Tomatoes at The Whistle Stop Cafe", is coming to the Lowcountry next week to talk about her latest book set in her hometown of Birmingham, AL. (Scroll down to see her book signing schedule).
Upon reading this in Southern Living magazine earlier today, I couldn't help but think of my adventures stumbling upon the real Whistle Stop Cafe (where the movie was filmed) during business travel to Macon, GA earlier this fall.
So I used one of my phone apps to search for nearby restaurants, sorted from nearest to farthest. As I scrolled the list, the very last one, located 26.1 miles away, in a little town called Juliette, GA jumped out at me and made me squeal with excitement- it was The Whistle Stop Cafe.
I had known that The Whistle Stop Cafe was a real place. Growing up I was obsessed with the movie and in college I remember googling "Whistle Stop" and discovering that indeed, the restaurant was kept open after the filming of the movie.
Click here to read about the Cafe
Doing the math in my head, I tried to calcuate how much time I would have to drive to Whistle Stop, eat and get back to Macon without jeopardizing my meeting. Not wasting any time, within 7 seconds I put the car in reverse, and headed straight for Juliette.
I was so excited I could hardly contain myself. I pulled into the little town and marveled at the familar scenery. It took me a few minutes to recognize where the actual cafe was- what gave it away were the hanging porch celing fans I noticed from a distance. There it was- THE Whistle Stop Cafe!
Before walking in I took a good walk around- noticing the famous BBQ pit where Big George barbeque's Frank Bennett- ("Bennett's BBQ" is a favorite dish on the menu!)
I also noticed Smokey Lonesome's little cabin (original pictures are on my lost cell phone- I found these on google).
Eventually I headed inside, found myself a table, and ordered Bennett's BBQ, fried green tomatoes (of course), and sweet tea which was served in a mason jar. Though I had brought my laptop along, it just didn't feel right to pull it out and start doing work. So I just sat there, munched on my fixins and took in the scenery. The walls were filled with old antique paraphernalia which was placed there during the movie- as well as framed photographs of the cast on set.
Following my meal, I walked around a bit into some of the local stores- and stumbled upon this old antique store, with a proud owner whose nickname is "Bear"- he explained to me that the entire movie was shot within about a 3 mile radius or so. It was the perfect location for filming. He helped design a lot of the sets with the era-proper objects.
He told me to stop by the old Baptist church on the way out just up the road. The (real) church cemetary where Ruth is buried, along with Buddy Jr's arm, still hold those fake tombstones created during filming.
And the most interesting thing I learned - to this day, Juliette locals put a jar of honey on Ruth's tombstone- just as Idgie did in the movie. And to this day tourists take the jar of honey as a souvenir, which is quickly replaced by another jar.
I didn't have time to go lookin' through the cemetary for the jar of honey. I knew I had to prioritize getting to my meeting on time- I'll save it for my next trip.
Tawanda! Click here to see one of my favorite scenes from the movie.
Fannie Flagg's Book Signing Schedule
Charlotte, NC -> Joseph-Beth Booksellers, November 29th 7 pm
Charleston, SC -> Barnes & Noble, December 2nd @ 7 pm
Pawleys Island, SC -> Litchfield Books, December 3rd @ 2 pm
After seeing that Fannie was going to be in Litchfield, I quickly checked my calendar to see where my business travels would have me on Friday, December 3rd. Though I was kinda sad to see that I wouldn't be anywhere nearby, I got a kick out of the fact that on this day, I will be in Valdosta, GA, where the fictional story takes place! How fitting.
