The Blue Willow Inn

We went to lunch at the Blue Willow Inn today in Social Circle, GA.  I have been there a number of times and I always enjoy it.  Imagine a piping hot buffet of golden fried chicken, real mashed potatoes, pineapple casserole, fried green tomatoes, crowder peas, green beans... and I'm just getting started.





The Blue Willow Inn is housed in a neoclassical, Greek Revival mansion with Corinthian columns. Here is a picture of one of the columns. 





John Phillips Upshaw built a Victorian cottage on the site of the current day restaurant for his wife Bertha, and his daughter, Nell.  Soon after, John's younger brother, Sanders Upshaw, built the house shown below across the street.  There was a bit of sibling rivalry and when the Sanders Upshaw house was about to be completed, and John and Bertha measured every inch of the house and then moved their Victorian cottage to a new site and built the present day house making sure it was larger and grander. The house was built in 1917. 




A frequent visitor to the John Upshaw home was Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone with the Wind.  She stayed in the relocated Victorian house while dating "Red" Berrien Kinnard Upshaw, her first husband.  Red Upshaw was a cousin of John Upshaw.  Guess where Margaret got the inspiration for her character of Rhett Butler?  You guessed it, Red was purported to be the model for Rhett.





The mansion stayed in the Upshaw family until 1952 whereupon it was deeded to Social Circle to be used as a cultural center.  It remained as such until 1985 and then was purchased by the Reverend Homer Harvey to be used as a church.  Louis and Billie Van Dyke purchased the property in 1990 and after extensive rennovations, opened as restaurant called the Blue Willow Inn.  The name comes from the collection of Blue Willow china which the Van Dyke's collected.





There is a lot more interesting history found in The Blue Willow Inn Bible of Southern Cooking by Louis and Billie Van Dyke but for now, h
ere are some of the foods you will find at the buffet and also in the cookbook. 





All eyes search for this nameplate!







No, I didn't eat the daisies (as the old movie goes) but they were on the table and I couldn't resist a quick picture.




My plate held a buffet sampler. Clockwise, from left to right - corn, fried chicken, glazed chicken with wild rice, macaroni and cheese, closely followed by pineapple casserole, and finally, mashed potatoes.  There were a lot more dishes to try but I will save those for another day.


It was a tough choice among all the desserts, but  I decided to finish my meal with their delicious peach cobbler.



From our table on the side porch we could see into the parlour.  There are plenty of places to eat at the Blue Willow Inn.




Here is the main entry.





The kiddies went outside while the grownies were finishing lunch.  I snapped this picture of my son being normal.  That may not seem like a great feat, but he is very good at "photobombing" as you can see below so I was lucky to capture this pleasant scene.



Title:  Pleasant Scene.  Charming young man, wouldn't you say???




But let's look behind the scenes at my typical photo shoot.
Another pleasant scene of the girls enjoying lunch.





Typical son's reaction to typical photo: Can I stick my head in every frame just as the shutter clicks?



 

Now you see why I am out skulking through the bushes to get a photo of him.


We're all back outside for a few parting pictures of the beautiful grounds of the Blue Willow Inn.








If you are in the Atlanta area, you will definitely want to take a trip to Social Circle.  It is about an hour's drive east of Atlanta.  Call ahead because they do accept reservations, but they are not necessary.  However, bring your appetite for some delicious southern cooking because that is necessary if you go to The Blue Willow Inn.

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