Lord Have Mercy; Jimmy Olger's Store Transcript
- [Customer] You got diet drinks?
- No, no diet, just water and regular drinks.
- [Interviewer] Now, tell me your name.
- My name is Jimmy Olgers, the mayor of Sutherland.
- [Interviewer] And why did Harry Bird Jones tell me-
- Because Harry Bird knows that I knows it all from A to Z.
- [Interviewer] Is that right?
- Yes sir, I've been born in hatched right here in Sutherland. Ain't nothing I don't know. I can tell you about folks that have been gone for 100 years.
- [Interviewer] Is that right?
- Right, and five generations too.
- [Interviewer] Is that right?
- Now, what else you want to know?
- I want to know the origins of Brunswick stew.
- Well brother, I'm the king of the Brunswick stew maker. My mama was Brunswick stew queen of Sutherland for years. Nobody could out cook her. Now, what, you wanna know the recipe?
- [Interviewer] Yeah.
- All right, here you go. First you gotta get your nice fat hens, and they gotta be old hens with that yellow fat, then you gotta put 'em in, cook 'em in that big black pot. You gotta cook 'em slow until the meat just falls right off the bone. Then you gotta de-bone it, and then you got that good stock in there from that yellow fat. That's the essential for Brunswick stew. Then you gotta, of course, you gotta put your beef in there too. All that's to be cooked with your chicken. And it don't hurt to put a little veal, but you ain't got to always put veal, but it's all right to put it. Then you gotta put your diced bacon, real smokehouse bacon, none of this here imitation liquid smoke stuff if you want real Brunswick stew. Dice that up, cook it all into a muddle.
- [Interviewer] Into a what?
- Muddle, muddle.
- [Interviewer] What's muddle, what does that mean?
- That's just a muddle that's just cooked up into a bunch of meat in a roux is a muddle.
- [Interviewer] I see.
- All right, then you gotta put in your potatoes, and your carrots, and your onions, and you gotta put in your celery, and you gotta cook it all to a state of perfection. Then you gotta put in your salt and your pepper, and you gotta put just the right amount of sugar, and you gotta keep stirring to make it just right. And when them taters get to the right constituency, everything gonna be super. And you got that chicken broth in there just sopping through them taters, and that celery just simmering in its natural state, great day on time, you talking about something good. And put that lid back on that pot and let her set after she cook, and that flavor go all the way through her. And she better the second day she is the first day, but ain't wrong with the first day, believe you me. I done eat a many, many, many a quart of that Brunswick stew, and I still make it, and can it too.
- [Interviewer] Do you?
- You can't beat the old fashioned way, it's the only way. You see a newfangled stuff, microwaves, and them computer chips and all that stuff, it's all right for people don't know no better, but Lord knows, child, you give me the old fashioned way. They ask them to do some cooking, what they do? They go to their microwave. What in the world's a microwave? Lord, have mercy. I wouldn't have a tractor trailer load of 'em delivered to the front door free.
- [Interviewer] Is that right?
- Lord, no.
- [Interviewer] But you've got a lot of stuff out here. You wouldn't have a microwave out here?
- No Lord, listen, wood stove, that's the only thing, the old fashioned wood stove. See, the best way, the old way is the best way. People say too much trouble, too much work. The more effort you put out, the better she turn out. You throw something in the oven, say she be done in seven minutes, what have you got? Just like eating cardboard with ketchup on it. You ain't got nothing, right? I know what I'm talking about. The old way is the best way.
- [Interviewer] Well, who is that over there?
- That's Larry. I'm a Brunswick stew man and a beef stew man. Oh, my Lord, I gotta beef stew recipe make you smack your grandma and squeeze her. You ain't never tasted nothing like it. You gotta have everything just right.
- Lord, have mercy.
- You see, these people like to cook. These people like to cook, it's all right, but them people just cook because of necessity, throw something in the pot. They don't put the real stuff into it. They ain't got nothing.
- [Interviewer] Well, what about fast food?
- Lord, it's all right if you ain't got nothing else, but Lord knows, who in the world want fast food when you can have real food? But this here young generation don't know no better. I tell you right now, I done told 'em 1,000 times. If there's no collard greens and chicken and watermelon in heaven, I don't wanna go. Cancel the trip.
- Lord, have mercy.
- [Interviewer] Who is he?
- He's Jimmy Olgers, he's a friend of mine, been a friend of mine for years.
- [Interviewer] And he seems to feel strongly about Brunswick stew.
- Oh yeah, he's very good cook too.
- [Interviewer] Is he?
- Oh yes.
- [Interviewer] Howdy.
- How you doing?
- [Interviewer] I heard you laughing at that fellow as he was telling me about Brunswick stew.
- I used to work with him down at JT Morris.
- [Interviewer] Did he tickle you?
- Oh yeah. He's a real good guy. He knows what he's talking about when it comes to food.
- [Interviewer] He does?
- Yeah.
- [Interviewer] What are some other things I should ask him about?
- Turtle soup.
- [Interviewer] What's his name?
- [Participant] Jimmy.
- [Interviewer] Hey Jimmy?
- Yeah, man.
- [Interviewer] Tell me about turtle soup.
- Lemme get this off, I'll tell you.
- [Interviewer] He said tell me about turtle soup.
- I can tell you about turtle soup. I'll tell you in a minute.
- I ain't supposed to lift things.
- I know it. Take it easy, now.
- All right, this hose right here goes up in here. I think it's this one right here.
- [Jimmy] All right.
- Anyway, that's a brand new hose.
- It's all on one hose, it's all on one hose.
- And this line and these lines are .
- [Jimmy] All right.
- [Customer] And it worked four months for me with no trouble.
- [Interviewer] You know this guy Jimmy?
- [Customer] Huh?
- [Interviewer] You know this guy Jimmy?
- I'm a friend, I do know this guy Jimmy.
- [Interviewer] What about his turtle stew, you ever had any?
- Haven't never had any, no. Every time Jimmy fixes turtle soup, I'm not around.
- [Interviewer] Have you heard of it, though?
- Oh yes, everybody's heard of Jimmy's famous turtle soup.
- [Interviewer] Okay.
- [Jimmy] World famous?
- Yeah, everybody eats that stuff. We got people waiting in line.
- Now let me tell you, brother, about this here turtle soup.
- [Interviewer] Okay.
- Are you ready for the shot?
- [Interviewer] I think.
- Can't nobody make turtle soup like me.
- [Interviewer] Is that right?
- Nobody. Yellow, blue, black, or green, I got the world championship, lemme tell you right now. My mama started me making it when I was 12 years old, I can clean a turtle so fast, make your head swim. Have him in a pot cooking before it stop kicking. That's right, I'm a turtle champ. Of course, you gotta strip all the fat off. You know, you don't use turtle fat. Seven different kind of meat, I can show you all seven different kinds.
- [Interviewer] What?
- Seven different kind of meat.
- [Interviewer] What you mean?
- Well, it's like chicken, veal, pork, beef, turkey, I can show you every piece in it, that's right.
- [Interviewer] In a turtle?
- Sure, he got seven different kind, and turtle meat it, you know, you can't beat a turtle. People say, "Lord no, I ain't eat nothing look like that." Lord, I mean, they don't know the half. They don't know what good. Man, turtle out this world. I've been eating it for for 50 years.
- [Interviewer] Well now, which would you prefer, turtle soup or Brunswick stew?
- Well, that's a hard question. You can't put that on nobody, 'cause it's two different things. That's just like you ask somebody whether they like rabbit or chicken, 'cause it's two different kind of meats. I love both of 'em, and I'll take one when I can get it, either one I can get it, but I make both. And let me tell you, they're hard to beat. I can a lot of it too for the women, a lot of them.
- [Interviewer] What do you cook turtle soup in? What do you cook it in?
- In the same pot I cook the Brunswick stew, the black pot in the yard, that's the best way to cook.
- [Interviewer] You got a black pot like that around here?
- Black pots, I got more black pots than the devil.
- [Interviewer] Show 'em to me.
- They over in my cabin in the woods.
- [Interviewer] Really?
- I got about 15 of 'em, every size from five gallon. I got 'em from five gallon to 120 gallon, 120 gallon, I got.
- [Interviewer] Why you got so many?
- Because I did different things I used them for, different kind of stew, and I can with them. I can 100 quarts at a time, you gotta a have a big pot. I got a pot so big, put you in it. Lord, yeah, and I got-
- [Interviewer] If Harry Bird Jones and I come over, will you cook us a turtle stew if we let you know?
- Lord, yeah, Harry Bird Jones know I'm the cookingest cat ever been through here. I got recipes he'd kill for. Lord, yeah, he know it too. Now, his wife's a world champion collard cooker, you know. She's the collard queen of Sutherland.
- [Interviewer] Is that right?
- Lord, yes, that woman can cook collards like she just put a finger on 'em it turned good. That woman can cook collards. Now, I ain't bad myself, but she the best I ever seen. Mama was a good, she could cook collards too, but you gotta have the right kind of meat. People think they throw a collard in their pot and boil 'em, you got something to eat. You can't do that, you gotta spice 'em up. You gotta put the meat in there, the right seasoning, and you got to know what to do. You gotta let 'em, some of them set on the stove and let that flavor go all through 'em. Yeah.
- [Interviewer] Is that where you learned from your mama?
- My mama, Lord, yeah. My mama was a, she was one in a billion. That woman could cook, great day on time. I was the only child, you know. You know, I learned everything. She taught me everything, cook, canning, everything.
- [Interviewer] Well, tell me about your museum here.
- Well, the museum I started in 1960 when we moved away here in '57, and I started in 1960, and it's just a mad idea that popped into my mind. And then it got bigger and bigger and bigger, and people started bringing stuff from all over the world, and it just turned to being absolutely fantastic. And people come from everywhere to see it, and I'm just thrilled to death that everyone has taken so much interest in it, and I hope they continue to do so in the future. And of course, now with Fork Inn open across the road here, we're looking for even bigger things and better things.
- [Interviewer] How many days a week are you open?
- Every day, every day.
- [Interviewer] Is that right?
- Mm-hmm, every day.
- [Interviewer] What are your hours?
- From 8:00 to six, but I get up at five every morning, go over to the cabin, work in my garden, and do my canning, and get everything ready so I can open up at eight, and you know, have when people get here, start getting here.
- [Interviewer] When you say doing your canning, what do you can?
- Oh my Lord, everything that come along, squash, taters, beans, succotash, Brunswick stew, turtle stew, collard greens.
- [Interviewer] Do you have turtle stew-
- Black-eyed peas and corn, Lord have mercy, fresh corn, I can, I mean, Lord have mercy.
- [Interviewer] Do you have turtle stew with anything else, or just by itself?
- No, by itself, or whatever you want to cook. Sometime have it by itself. Sometime you cook something on the side with it, depending on what your taste buds call for. Yeah, I can eat it when I feel like anytime, because I'll always eat a good bowl of turtle soup. But you gotta realize, can't everybody make it, 'cause all the old time cooks about gone now. I reckon I'm about the only one left.
- [Interviewer] Well, now, tell me what, you pointed me to a monument over.
- The monument right over there, the Confederate monument I had it put there in 1981. From private donations, I had it put there myself, and no federal or state aid, 'twas just a notion I took in my mind, and a dream that came true, and it's just absolutely been wonderful. People from all over the world have come.
- [Interviewer] Well, what's it about?
- It's the honoring the Confederates who gave their lives here. They gave their last full measure of devotion for their homeland right here. And of course, when I started, people didn't think much out of it, made mockery of it and laughed at it, and now look at it. It's a national treasure.
- [Interviewer] Come over and show it to me, would you?
- National treasure.
- [Customer] Hey, Jimmy?
- Yeah.
- [Customer] You can have that, do whatever you can with it. I don't think you'd get that much out of it.
- Okay, I'll let her have 25,
- Whatever you think.
- I'll give her 25, 'cause she's a good woman.
- [Interviewer] Jimmy, where were you born?
- Born right here, right here in Sutherland. Sutherland born and Sutherland bred, When I die, be Sutherland dead.
- [Interviewer] So you had a vision to put this monument there?
- I had a dream. It's always been my dream to have it put here since I was a little boy. In 1981, I raised the money and got every different folks and friends of mine had it.
- [Interviewer] Hey, Jimmy?
- Yeah.
- [Interviewer] Where'd you get the cannon?
- It was made by a friend of mine, gave, brought it to me. And he's brought me lots of things for the museum. I got, he had a rifle he brought the other day, and he's been some kinda, I'll tell you, folks have been wonderful, it really is. They've been wonderful, and I'll tell you the truth, it's made me feel great.
- [Interviewer] I bet so.
- But I got so many friends, and I've always said I've been blessed with so many friends, and don't think I don't enjoy it too, because they have been wonderful, because there's nothing like friends, you think of it. You just, you can't, a good friend hard to beat. Lord, have mercy, even as a child, I was engrossed in history. Man, I love it, love it. I eat, live, and sleep history. I've always been that way, and the Civil War and all that, and I mean it just-
- [Interviewer] Tell me about the Fork Inn over there.
- Fork Inn was built in 1803 by Findel Sutherland. He brought his bride here, she was 18, he was 33. He died in 1833, leaving her with 12 children.
- [Interviewer] Now, tell me about your museum now. What was your vision for your museum, how'd you decide?
- Well, I don't know how it came about, actually. I don't know, it just somehow or another, I started collecting things, people started bringing things, people started mailing things, and pretty soon, I just got caught up in it, and it's been absolutely wonderful, and still is.
- [Interviewer] Did you put some things out here first?
- No, no, no, no, uh-uh. See, the store was here then, all the store, but this started in the back where we used to live, where I was raised right here in the store.
- [Interviewer] And then you were living back there?
- Right there in the back room, I was raised. This will always be home to me. And then pretty soon in 1988 when we had to close, one of them things, you know, this country store got to be just like a stage coach, gone forever, and so we turned the whole thing into a museum, and it's been absolutely fantastic. I couldn't have asked for any more dream.
- [Interviewer] What drove the country stores away?
- Well, everything changed. Nothing stays the same forever, you know that. I guess, well, the old time folks, they, you know, they all died out, and you know, there was a way, you know, people didn't go to town. In them them days, you know, the country store was the hub of the community, but Lord, now Lord, they go to town four or five times a week. They stay over at Walmart, go to the grocery store. Shucks, man, women don't can no more, don't cook no more. They don't sew no more. Everything from Walmart now, everything from town. They buy everything. The people didn't have that kind of money then, and not only that, they were raised up the holler way. They knew what it was to work, and they took pride in what they did and what they stood for. Lord, now people, this younger generation, so many of 'em don't have no grassroots. They don't care where they come from or where they going. Far as that goes, the Lord have mercy, nothing matters anymore just so you, you know, just make a day, that's all. But you know, there was a time, you know, when life had a far deeper meaning. It sure did.
- [Customer] That's very true.
- Howdy, howdy, how y'all doing?
- [Customer] How y'all doing?
- Everything's super, everything's super. Yeah, downtown Sutherland.
- [Interviewer] Where were you born?
- I was born in Petersburg Hospital, but I was raised right here in the store all my life.
- [Interviewer] Is that right?
- Yeah.
- [Interviewer] Do you have a little place back there that reminds you of where you were raised?
- Well, the whole thing's a museum now.
- [Interviewer] Show it to me, can we go inside?
- The museum?
- [Interviewer] Yeah.
- Oh sure we can go inside.
- [Interviewer] Golly, look at that.
- [Jimmy] There's a picture of Mom and Dad. This was taken in 19-
- [Interviewer] Tell me again.
- There's a picture of Mom and Dad taken in 1986 sitting on the porch. Everybody loved them, they were a grand pair. You would've loved them too if you knew 'em.
- [Interviewer] That's great.
- They were something else. Oh, I'm telling you, you just, you can't realize until you, to have known 'em, you would've loved them. This is my first wife, Juanita, Lord, what a woman, could she cook. Lord, she was a cook, now. Crazy about collards, mm, that woman loved collards.
- [Interviewer] She's got a collard look.
- Yes she has, uh-huh, she got a collard look. But she know what they say, you know, she's from Carolina, you know, them Carolinians, you know, for a version, a Carolinian's version of heaven is a boss Pepsi and a pot of collards. Well, you know, she just loved them. She ate so many it killed her. Gas, you know, collards give you gas. Lord, one evening about 5:00, there was a dull thud, she blew up.
- [Interviewer] Oh my goodness.
- Yeah, they never found all her parts, just her ear here and her nose yonder. I mean, you know, collards, you that's what got her. But she was a wonderful woman.
- [Interviewer] Now show me some more, this is wonderful.
- Here's my picture right here when I was three and a half sitting on that old porch. Right here, that's me. I sat there many a time watching the convoys in World War II, people stopping by. Lord, I think about them days and all the time, I mean, they were the good old days, gone to never return, the good old times, you know? You know that you look back, but you got beautiful memories, and something nobody can ever take away from you, and I got millions of 'em, I have that, and I got all-
- [Interviewer] When you look at that picture of yourself sitting up there-
- Yeah.
- [Interviewer] On the back porch, what do you think of?
- Well, I think of, you know, how carefree everything was. My Uncle Norman used to say, "Children, you're chewing your soft corn." You know, in the old days you got nothing to worry about then, you know? Just from day to day you just do what you want and live, but you know, when you get older, you got responsibility, you got worries, and you got children of your own, you know? But Lordy mercy. I look like I had a grand time then, Lordy mercy. That's all the folks I've known in my time. I've often said it must have been fate that I was born in such a time and such a place, and the people that I've known it must have been, God certainly must have had a plan in it. He really, really had. Look at all the pictures I got of all the albums of all the old Sutherland Hunt Club. Pictures of all the people used to come here of all the grand times. Look a' here, all the old hunt club, look at 'em. All the old members, all of 'em gone now. Daddy was the last one to pass.
- [Interviewer] Is your daddy in there?
- [Jimmy] That's my daddy right there.
- [Interviewer] Point to him there.
- Right here, that's daddy's picture right there. He organized the club in 1927, he died 1993. He and mom died 30 days apart. Lord, he loved to hunt. Oh, he loved to hunt. Man, in hunting season, you could, man, when was here, you couldn't get in the store, open at 4:00 in the morning. It was the hunting was in our blood, man, in our blood.
- [Interviewer] Did you hunt?
- Oh yes indeed, followed Daddy through the woods with him when no bigger than a, couldn't keep up with him, walking behind them dogs, walking behind them dogs.
- [Interviewer] Let me get a shot of your dad.
- [Jimmy] Yeah.
- [Interviewer] Where'd you go, Jimmy?
- I'm right here.
- [Interviewer] What's back here?
- Look a' here, largest pair of ladies' bloomers in the world, she be 749 pounds. 749 pounds, can you imagine?
- [Interviewer] That's pretty big.
- [Jimmy] Bertha Magoo, that was her name.
- [Interviewer] Is that right?
- Heat in the winter, shade in the summer, my kind of woman. Here's the old, this is our old kitchen right here. Mama cooked many a meal in here. The old wood stove set over here, the old table here and the old sink over here. That's where you went through to the old pantry over there. Mama kept all her canned goods in there.
- [Interviewer] Say it again?
- Mama kept all her canned goods in the old pantry over there. All the shelves were full of things, pears, sweet potatoes. She canned during World War II. She canned some stuff in this world. This is the old, this is where I slept for many, many years, right here in this corner, and this is my bed right here. Used to get so hot in the summertime, I opened the back door and laid my head by the screen, go in the backyard and lay on the picnic table, got so hot.
- [Interviewer] Right over here you did?
- [Jimmy] That's my bed right here. My bed was right here for many, many years. This was Mama and Daddy's room right here.
- [Interviewer] Tell me again.
- Mama and Daddy's room right here. The old bed in the old bedroom right here. Right in this corner, the old bed was right this way right here.
- [Interviewer] You've been collecting a long time.
- [Jimmy ] Long time, people have brought stuff from everywhere. Just taking a trip through here is a step back into time, isn't it?
- [Interviewer] It sure is.
- I never refused anything anyone brought from the smallest thing to the largest, 'cause if it meant something to them to bring it to me, well, then I kept it. I kept it, because it had to mean something to them. Yeah?
- [Assistant] Some guys here's for wheels.
- All right, tell him, go ahead and get 'em.
- [Assistant] Do they owe you anything?
- No uh-uh, everything's fine, tell 'em go ahead. But you got to realize, when we lived here, things was different then. The people came to the store were more than customers. They were like family. They were more than friends even. It's hard to describe, because you'd have to have lived, to have been here through it all to know what it was really like, and of course, I do because I was here. My mama was, Lord, she was the neighborhood angel of mercy. My daddy did for people, Lord have mercy, knowing that he never, oh, he just did for 'em unreal. He went the second mile, ain't no doubt about it. He really did, you can say that he did.
- [Interviewer] He would keep tabs for people when they couldn't pay?
- Oh yes, Lord. No, they could never get him paid for it. Lord, he let 'em have groceries. Lord, I've seen him take stuff to people at Christmas, and knowing, you know that. Oh, see, there's Roosevelt signing the famous bills.
- [Interviewer] That's amazing.
- Yes, indeed.
- [Interviewer] I wonder if this is a Brunswick stew squirrel?
- Well, it could be. Sometimes I have put the squirrels in stew, but I haven't done any in right many years now, because I'll tell you the reason why. People won't buy it a lot of times when they got, they won't eat it if they got squirrel in it. Then too, they got so many fine bones, but it's got wonderful flavor. Man, squirrels too, my mama used to make 'em put that bunch of chicken in and put the squirrel, and man, it was some kind of good, and de-boned, some kind of good.
- [Interviewer] What would be the difference in the taste between a squirrel Brunswick stew and a chicken Brunswick stew?
- Not all that much, not all that much. No, for someone who doesn't know anything about Brunswick stew, it'd be hard to describe anyway, but it's not that much, not that much different. I like both of 'em, I really do. I like anything to eat, tell you the truth.
- [Assistant] He said they won't fit, so what do you want?
- [Interviewer] What is this, Jimmy?
- That's a jackalope, they call it a jackalope. It's just a gag people making, you know, for years. No such thing as that, you know, a rabbit with horns, but they just make it for a joke, and it's been a joke for many years.
- [Interviewer] Like these old hunters here.
- [Jimmy] That's my old, some of my mama's kin folks hunting in Brandon, 1928, George Horn. He married my mother's first cousin, and that's me when I was 16 over here.
- [Interviewer] That's great.
- [Jimmy] Great day on time, that thing is old.
- [Interviewer] How much is that?
- How much, ain't nothing here for sale. This is museum.
- [Interviewer] Oh, this your museum. Oh that's right, yeah.
- Brunswick stew, the real thing.
- [Interviewer] Who made that?
- I made it, that's why it's the real thing, and I put my rare herbs and love portions in that. Let me tell you, honey. Lord, you talking about something good, brother, and you can't get this every day and everywhere. I sold a woman in Prince Charles two quart last year, she had twins. Yes sir, you can't beat it. This is a real thing, brother. You'll never buy nothing on the shelf like this.
- [Interviewer] It looks soupy, though.
- Soupy? Look a' there, it's just the right constituency. Look at that, look at that lumps of delicious virgin chicken right there. Look at them home grown butter beans, look at that. Them chickens die with a smile on their face too, child. You can't find chickens that, I mean, they died for the cause, 'cause I love Brunswick stew. This the real thing, brother.
- [Customer] Yeah.
- And then it'll keep for a year, and you put up here and put this way, and it get cold this winter, just reach in there and grab a quart of that stew and throw it on the wood stove and heat her up for dinner with some hot biscuits. Great day on time, make you squeal. Dang, but you look at that, look at them nice corn, and them butter beans, and them lumps of chicken just floating around in there, just waiting to be eat. You talking about good, mm, mm, mm. You won't get nothing nowhere else that good, I'll tell you that.
- I think you're getting him hungry.
- [Interviewer] Now, that's got a much looser consistency than the people down in Brunswick County make. Do you know that? It's a looser consistency.
- Constituency? Well, send 'em up here, I'll show 'em how to make it right. That's right. I'm telling you.
- Name of the place.
- That's right. Ask 'em is it good, they done eat it, they know.
- [Interviewer] Is it good?
- Yes sir.
- [Interviewer] Is it good?
- I tell you what, my mother was an excellent cook on Brunswick stew, but that's the best.
- [Interviewer] Is that right?
- His is better than my mother's.
- [Jimmy] Amen, brother.
- Mama would come back from heaven and whip me for saying that.
- You ain't gonna find many people saying that somebody else's cooking's better than their mama's, 'cause you know that Mama's always the best.
- [Interviewer] That's true.
- But you talking to one of the old cooks right here.
- [Customer] Old?
- Well, plenty old, but I ain't- old, but I ain't cold. You've gotta have the old black cast iron pot to cook it in, though, with the wooden paddle. That's what give it the flavor. I done said it 1,000 times, the old time way is the best, and stir that stuff, man slow as you cook and bubble. You can't rush it neither. You can't put no big fire under it, 'cause if you scorch Brunswick stew, you ain't got nothing but a mess on your hands. You can't eat it, and you can't give it away, and I don't know what you're gonna do with it, 'cause you ain't got but a mess, 'cause scorched stew ain't fit to eat. Sure ain't. Don't you worry, the old time cooks ain't gonna scorch it. It's the new ones that don't know what to do that scorch it.
- [Interviewer] Well, Jimmy, what advice would you give to a young person who wanted to learn to cook Brunswick stew?
- Well, get with some of the old heads, and learn from them. That's all I can tell you, because you sure can't get that in no book. That's one thing for sure. Some things they don't put in books, and that's one of 'em. And you take it, now, I'll tell you something else you won't believe. These people cook by recipes. Lord, have mercy. The real cooks ain't never had a recipe. They're a little this and a little of that and some of this and some of that, and you talking about turning out good, you can't beat 'em, that's right. You can't beat the experience firsthand.
- [Interviewer] You know, Georgia claims that they originated Brunswick stew.
- Yeah, a whole lot of places claim it, but you know, I've eaten Brunswick stew, I wondered sometime what it was even, they call it Brunswick stew. Lord, have mercy.
- [Interviewer] Where do you think it started?
- Now, you know I don't know, but you know, I have no idea. I don't know, Brunswick County claimed they started it, and Brunswick, Georgia said they started it, who knows?
- North Carolina said they started it one time.
- Yeah.
- [Customer] But it started right here in Sutherland.
- Personally, we say it come from Sutherland, that's right. The best in the world come from Sutherland.
- It's like, it's the best I've ever eaten.
- She's eaten all over, she's been all over. I ain't even never been to Brunswick to eat in it, so you know I don't know. I've never left, hardly ever left Sutherland, but I've eaten stew come from up there.
- [Interviewer] Is it good?
- Yeah, it's good, but I don't think it's good as mine. You know, everybody think the as is the best, you know? But no joke, laying all jokes aside, I don't think it's good as ours, I really don't, I don't.
- [Interviewer] Is your recipe one handed down by your mama?
- Yeah, same one she used, yeah. If I had to write it down, I wouldn't know what to tell you.
- [Interviewer] Have you changed it much?
- No, didn't change it any. That's what's the way she always cooked. We used to go down to Brandon. We had a place down at James River. We weren't nothing but children. My mama would make that Brunswick stew and take it down there, and set it on four rocks for dinner and heat it. I can still see that stew there, man. It tasted, Lord was it outta this world. Of course, we had our own chickens too. That's the thing too. You take a chicken off the yard, it's 10 times better then chicken you buy. I don't know why, but it is just one of them thing. Don't you worry, them old time cooks know what they're doing. They know what they're doing, you just trust them. They'll show you the way, that's right.
- [Interviewer] What's your favorite thing he cooks?
- Brunswick stew.
- [Interviewer] Yeah.
- But I'm famous for my barbecued rabbit too, now.
- [Interviewer] What?
- Barbecued rabbit.
- [Interviewer] You make that too?
- Yeah, and my turtle stew, and Lord, have mercy. I make, that turtle stew is hard to beat, and now, my rabbit is too, man. Everybody talk about my catfish, oh, lord, have mercy. Talking about fish, I'm a fish king. But you know, you know what they always say? You can't miss something you ain't never had. So them ain't never had it sure can't miss it. But thank God I know what it is. Yes, indeed.
- [Customer] Been there and done that.
- That's right. Check it out, I got a lot of new stuff.
- [Customer] Yeah, I'm checking.
- These are dear friends of mine right here, both of 'em, dear friends of mine.
- [Customer] I've worked with him.
- Yeah, we worked together for years.
- [Customer] He trained me.
- [Jimmy] Yeah.
- He trained me down at the funeral home.
- Yeah, well, the store closed, you see, in '88, and I went to work down there just before it closed, yeah.
- [Interviewer] And when did the museum open?
- '89, June '89, 18 months later, June '89, 18 months later. We worked night and day till we got it in order.
- [Interviewer] Did you have a vision for it?
- Oh yes, indeed, it was a dream, a dream come true, yes indeed. It certainly is. It is still.
- [Interviewer] Where'd you get the idea for?
- I don't know, I really don't know. It must have come to me in my subconscious or something, but it's always been a dream that I wanted to do something like that, and I did it.
- You know, God fulfills your dreams.
- [Jimmy] Yeah, sometimes He does.
- He does that.
- [Interviewer] Jimmy, you fly the American flag and the confederate flag. There are other flags inside.
- Sure.
- [Interviewer] But you know there's a controversy in some people's minds about the confederate flag. How do you feel about it?
- Well, just like I told you a while ago, I don't feel any ill feeling against it, and I've had never had any negative comments here since I've had the confederate flag here, and it's just a part of history. My goodness, I buy 'em about 50 at a time, and sell 'em to people that come through. I've never heard any overtones from it, and same thing as the American flag. I sell worlds of them, but not many as confederate. I do sell more confederate than I do American.
- [Interviewer] What do you think the confederate-
- The little ones and the big, people buy a lot of flags from me to put on graves for Memorial Day, confederate as well as American, and I do, I put 'em in our cemetery too. My great-grandfather fought for the Confederacy, and my uncle died in World War I, he fought for the United States in Germany in World War I. I put American flag on his grave, and I put a confederate flag on my great-grandfather, Mr. David Davis grave. It's just I really don't see such the big issue about it myself, but of course, if there are those who feel different, I'm sure that's what make the world go round. You got to look at the overall picture. You just don't take one aspect of something, and I mean, you take the monument. Look what I wrote on the monument over there, and I got the confederate flag put on the monument too as a memorial to those men who died right here on this spot. I often say when I give talks there on Memorial Day, that this soil has been made sacred, stained with the blood of men who died defending their homeland, and you know, that's a awesome statement, you know? That's an awesome statement. A man, you know, you don't have one life, you give that. Lord, have mercy. Amen, brother.
- [Interviewer] I'll see you.
- [Jimmy] All right.
- [Interviewer] All right. Have a good day, God bless.
