Good Morning Blogville Neighbors

I told y'all yesterday I'd share my Junkin' trip with you, so today I will show you a few pictures I took when Dean and I went memory walking.

A little history of Brookhaven:

Brookhaven was founded in 1818 by pioneer Samuel Jayne, who migrated to the area from his former home of Brookhaven in Long Island, New York. He and his brothers started a post office, store and mill along the Bogue Chitto River on land originally known as "Old Brook." For decades, the Old Brook trading post provided a recognizable stop for those traveling through the area. It took the building of the new railroad in 1858, 5 miles north, to grow the small settlement into a town. The name was changed to Brookhaven after the home town of the Founder, Brookhaven has since survived and prospered over the years. It served as a Hospital Town during the Civil War or as some perfer to call it the War Between the States...

This first picture is taken on Hwy. 51 south of Brookhaven, in the area that was originally known as Old Brook, up until the late 50's this was the main Hwy into Brookhaven, and this building is the Old Coffee pot, back in the day when the Gray Hound Bus was a popular means of Transportation, this was a well know Bus stop and Cafe. Back in it's hay day this was a pretty busy place, but alas, they build the new highway bypass that took the main road past the town rather than down the middle of it, so sadly now it is just an empty used car lot. It has been used as a auto part store a muffer shop and a small grocery store. Sad to see an icon die.

The Coffee Pot (actual coffee pot designed rooftop) was built in the 1920s by J.J. Carruth, operated by his sons Lester and "Bubber," and was the first fast-food restaurant in the South. In the 1930s, a famous pianist performed on the roof for 24 hours promoting the restaurant.

The next picture is what's left of the old Crystal Ice Company.....now the city is talking about knocking this tower down, they say it's an eye sore...

This is what it looked like in it's hay day. Telephones had become available in 1894, and then electric generation and a waterworks system permitting ice manufacture in 1898.

But my favorite photo of all was of a personal nature, this is the Serio's Grocery, it was established in 1915, by a young couple from Sicily. It is located about a mile north of the old Coffee Pot and was a major business in it's day before the highway moved. The Serio's had 5 children, Charlie, Josephine, Rosie, Camile(Babe is what they called him), and the baby boy Jimmy. Jimmy was the only one to marry and leave home, the rest lived in the house above the store and continues to run the store today. Josephine and Camile have both passed but Rosie who was the oldest still runs the store and at age 93 know everyone that comes in. Up until 6 yrs ago when Camile dies they had a small bar in the back of the store where you could go and buy raw oysters and eat, Camile would shack as many as you wanted and it was so much fun to go down on a Sat evening meet up with friends, laugh, joke and eat all the oysters you wanted, it was always fun there....nothing fancy, they had the crackers, lemons and sauces on the bar and you just helped yourself and you could even drink a beer with your food. there were no chairs just a long bar where you stood to eat. On one wall behind the bar when you eat your first raw oyster you wrote your name and dated it, I loved to go and look and see all the names on that wall, I think everyone who ever lived in Brookhaven or passed through had their name on that wall, the earliest I remember was 1943, that is the year they started serving them.

The old building hasn't changed since their parents built it, only a new roof was added about 20 yrs ago. They, Rosie and Charlie live upstairs, they didn't have the store open Weds when we came by at 10:00 or we'd stopped and took pictures inside for you. They used to have a long sign that stood from the ground to their balcony that said OYSTERS let you know when the oysters where in. They would not sale them in any month that didn't have an R in it, Rosie said that those month's they weren't fit to eat.

I just love Google search, you can find just about anything on line....This is a picture I found on the internet of the Serio's oyster bar....the little man in back is Babe, this was made about 3 years before he died.

Hope you enjoyed my Town.....