Close to Nowhere - Linda Jones


Thursday, July 26, 2012
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Close to Nowhere
By Linda Jones

... and it rained...

Thinking back to Remy’s and my trip to the Nashville area and looking at the photos, I get very wistful.

Almost every photo was in or about the rain — it was constant. And wonderful!

Couple of times Remy wondered if it was actually raining or if the air was just really wet.

Both of us were sorry that the rains had flooded the Bell Witch Cave, but it gives us a reason to go back.

On every vacation it seems like you discover one really neat place (at least if you’re lucky).

Daughter Dana, during a phone conversation while we were on the road, said we had to go to The Loveless Café. I’d heard her mention it several times, but didn’t know anything about it.

Seems like it was one of those old roadside cafés that lined the highways back in the 1950s. The Loveless, originally the Harpeth Valley Café, was purchased by Lon and Ann Loveless in 1951. The couple set up picnic tables in their front yard and sold fried chicken and hot biscuits to travelers up and down U.S. Highway 100. Lon added home-cured ham and four motel rooms.

Lon’s health declined and they sold the café in 1959 to a couple who worked at the motel — the Maynards. They kept Ann’s biscuit recipe and the café continued to be very popular. In fact, it about outgrew itself.

In 2004, several committed Nashville natives bought the Loveless (and the biscuit recipe) and began restoration — new kitchen, new restrooms, more seating — and converted the motel rooms into shops. The Hams and Jams Country Market ships all over the world.

Now, the Loveless Café serves over 400,000 guests a year and makes between 4,000 and 7,000 biscuits a day — still using the secret recipe from Annie Loveless.

They were excellent biscuits too! Almost as good as those Dana makes. But Dana learned to make biscuits from her grandmother and her great-grandmother — two spectactular country cooks.

Hmmm, now I’m craving homemade biscuits. Maybe I can talk Dana into some, as the Loveless is in Nashville. Or, maybe I’ll run to one of the fabulous cafes/restaurants around here!

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