The Original Whistle Stop Cafe

This building was built in 1927 by Mr. Edward L. Williams Sr., who ran a general merchandise store here for some 45 years. The store sold groceries, staples, gasoline, cattle feed, medicines, clothing, and hardware. Or, in Mr. Williams words, "everything from the cradle to the grave." Ed finally closed the doors for good in 1972. The store was probably one of the last of its kind that delivered the groceries and also charged them.

An antique file system loaded with old yellow tickets from the past, along with the meat block, cash register, meat scales, wood heater, safe, and other smaller items remain in the cafe still today. The store housed an antique shop before the filming of Fried Green Tomatoes in which it played a major role as The Whistle Stop Cafe. After the filming, Robert Williams, (who had inherited the store building), decided to make it into a real cafe and therefore formed a partnership with his friend Jerie Lynn Williams to start the Original Whistle Stop Cafe.