Red, White and Roux

When teachers only got paid 10 months out of the year, summers could get a bit lean. I picked up some much-needed extra bucks working for my aunt who owns Dolores's Sweet Shop. I didn't work every day, and only filled in if one of her regular employees needed some time off. Sometimes it was short notice. The telephone would ring in the early morning, and I would bail out of bed to get ready. Comfortable shoes were a must since I would be on my feet for a good eight hours.

We served breakfast, made tuna, potato, and chicken salad, sliced up ham, turkey, and roast beef, made chili, and washed and chopped lettuce and tomatoes. Melanie Zingarelli or Dolores did the baking. We took a break around 10:30 a.m. between breakfast and lunch to eat and rest before we got slammed at noon. In the restaurant business we do everything we can to be ready for the folks who pour through the door, but when the rush comes, it is all about moving quickly and keeping the customers happy.

At the end of the day I went home bone tired with tips in my pocket. Feeding people and working in a kitchen was a very good way to pass the time.

There is the love of her homemade chicken salad and the family connection that keeps me caring about Dolores' Sweet Shop. She also feeds me Christmas dinner every year at her house, doesn't allow help with clean-up, and sends leftovers home.

In fact, I first heard about her move at Christmas. We debated the forced change of venue from every angle and ultimately decided that it was a good thing. She has joined Gerry Garlick in the Buck-Brash-Hays-Dan Garlick Environmental Associates house across the street from the old A & P-Lanier Pharmacy building that currently houses Apalachicola Fitness Center.

Dolores gave me a call after her first day of business in the new location. She said things went fairly smoothly and that the kitchen is great. She didn't make any changes to the menu, but the cooks in the back still had to get used to new storage spots for pots, pans, and utensils. Her tables are set up in the home's original dining room and the outside porch is available for those who want an al fresco experience.

The other half of the downstairs houses Gerry Garlick's business that was formerly in the Sponge Exchange building downtown. Gerry said he can really spread out in his four rooms and hallway with lots of space for his rugs, furniture, specialty soaps and jewelry. In addition he noted, “I just have to holler for lunch.”

The history of this house and the Gibson Inn are inextricably linked. According to Dolores, South Carolinian James Fulton Buck built both of them in the early 1907, although the Gibson was originally called the Franklin Hotel. The house’s next owners were Mannie Brash Jr. and his wife Ethel. Her brothers were Willis and Chauncey Glass who ran the local dairy on what is now Prado Street.

Next in line to run the Gibson and later live in the house were Edward “Pat” Hays and family when, in 1923, his mother, Annie Gibson Hays and aunt Mary Ella "Sunshine" Gibson, bought the hotel and changed the name to the Gibson.

Pat Hay’s eldest daughter, Patsy Hays Philyaw, remembers living in the family apartment in the hotel and eating around a table in the restaurant kitchen which was in a separate building at the time. That came to an end when the hotel was pressed into use for a brief period by the military during World War II and the Hays family moved into the house Mr. Buck had built. Dan Garlick bought the house from Kathleen Hays in 1996.

There was a time before its renovation that the Gibson fell into disrepair, not so for the big white house on the corner. I remember it as being lovingly maintained throughout the years. Houses get a lonely, downtrodden look when they are empty. I'm so glad this one has found some happy tenants.

Denise Roux is a regular columnist for the Apalachicola and Carrabelle Times. To reach her, email her at rouxwhit@mchsi.com