Way Back Wednesday in Calhoun County---May 30-June 5

With the start of summer, the barbecue grills are getting a lot of use. Barbecue has been a staple in East Alabama for many years. While there are numerous barbecue restaurants that still operate today throughout the county specializing in everything from Boston Butts to ribs, there are some barbecue restaurants that are long gone that made an impact on the citizens of Calhoun County. Just mentioning these restaurant names to old time Calhoun Countians will elicit a diatribe about the taste of the barbecue sauce or the lemon pie and milk shakes that followed the meals.

One of the earliest establishments was Jeff Dorman’s restaurant and barbecue stand at 1214 West 15th Street. Jeff’s BBQ stand opened in the late 1920s. Dorman’s family lived at the restaurant for several years until moving to a home a few blocks away from the restaurant. Dorman, an African-American businessman, operated his café in the West 15th Business district for almost 40 years until he was killed in a robbery of his barbecue stand in 1968. Dorman and his first wife, Annie, found their recipes were so popular that both white and black citizens patronized the business. After Annie passed away in 1965, Jeff Dorman remarried and continued to operate the café with his second wife, Betty, until his death. After Dorman’s murder, the business suffered. An attempt was made to reopen the café with the same recipes in the early 1970s but the business venture failed.

In 1938, Pop’s Barbeque which started as Person’s Barbeque at 622 Leighton Avenue opened on the East side of Anniston. W. G. “Pop” Pearson operated the barbecue restaurant until he sold the business to Carl Thagard in the 1950s. The café operated until the early 1970s when Thagard passed away. Pearson left the barbeque business in the mid-1940s to operate a general store near his home in Wellington. Pop Pearson’s Store was a staple in the Wellington community for nearly twenty-years.

A popular spot with both locals and the soldiers at nearby Fort McClellan was the Goal Post BBQ. The restaurant opened in 1959 by S. A. Pruett on the corner of 14th Street and Wilmer Avenue but relocated to Quintard Avenue in the mid-1960s. In the late 1960s, B. B. Ballard purchased the restaurant then sold the establishment to Roy Young in 1975. Young owned the restaurant for 25 years, selling in 1998. The business was popular for its ham, shoulders, catfish, fried chicken, chef salads, and lemon pies. After Young sold the business, it continued to operate until 2014 when it closed and was demolished.

With the advent of cars, drive-ins became popular. The Tavern was a barbeque stand built in the late 1930s in North Anniston. The drive-in, located at 3101 Noble Street, was know for its curb service and by 1961 was open 24 hours. The restaurant served breakfast and dinners as well as sandwiches of all kinds. Eventually, the building included a fast-service window and indoor, air-conditioned dining rooms. The restaurant closed in the late 1970s and sat vacant for years until the building was razed.

The barbecue culture of the East Alabama is still alive but with different restaurants. Looking back and remembering the taste of the summer treats from years past is a pleasure for the palate and leaves a few longing for those delicious recipes from the past.

To learn more about the history of Calhoun County pick up a copy of Images of America: Calhoun County (ISBN 978-0738589985), Anniston (ISBN 978-0738506012), or Anniston Revisited (ISBN 978-1467114752) by Kimberly O’Dell.