SSI ARCHIVES
Food for Thought: Remembering Everett’s Grocery Store
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s we begin a New Year, it’s interesting to look back to a local January tradition. Many people have favorite wall calendars that they display year after year. On St. Simons Island in the 1940s, the calendar from Everett’s Grocery Store was probably a favorite among homemakers. Providing “staple and fancy groceries,” Everett’s was located at the corner of Mallery Street and Butler Avenue in the Village. The store was operated by Livingston W. Everett, known to everyone as Dutch. He and his wife Mary Gould lived near the St. Simons Lighthouse. Mary, a descendant of the builder
and keeper of the first lighthouse, was the island postmistress for many years and a valuable source of local information. By sharing her Gould family history with Eugenia Price, Mary became a source for the author’s book Beloved Invader and her two subsequent books in the St. Simons Trilogy. Everett’s “homemaker’s calendar” had a wealth of information for the American cook. Each month featured recipes–familiar favorites as well as regional dishes for those who were looking for new ideas. Southern recipes included Crab Soup Beaufort and Corn Bread Stuffing for Roast Chicken, while selections from the West included West
Coast Tuna Pie and Santa Clara Fruited Cream. Pennsylvania was represented by the recipe for “Snits and Knepp,” a traditional Pennsylvania Dutch dish of ham and apple dumplings. The calendar also contained helpful information about canning pickles and jellies and running the home on a budget. This month’s images are the cover of the store’s 1946 calendar, donated by Camille Penders, and a detail from a postcard of the
Village, showing the grocery store where Roberta’s stands today. Since its founding in 1965, the Coastal Georgia Historical Society’s archival collection has grown to over 15,000 historically important artifacts, documents and photographs.
Our monthly images on this page are from the vast archives of the Coastal Georgia Historical Society. The Society’s mission includes the “administration, restoration and maintenance of historic facilities and resources … preserved as a living part of the historical and cultural foundations of our coastal community.” Society facilities include the St. Simons Lighthouse and Museum, the A.W. Jones Heritage Center, and the Maritime Center (formerly the U.S. Coast Guard Station). To learn more about the Society, its diverse programs, and the benefits of Society membership, please call 912.638.4666, or visit saintsimonslighthouse.org. 114 E L E G A N T I S L A N D L I V I N G
