Went on a lovely drive yesterday. It was a beautiful day — sunny, high clouds, perfect for a road trip to Tallahassee, FL.
One of the things on our “to do” list was to visit Bradley’s Country Store. Just a bit outside of Tallahassee proper, we arrived there by means of a country lane, County Road 27. Portions of this narrow but scenic roadway are crowned with a canopy of tree branches that reach over to each other from both sides of the road and sometimes meet in the middle overhead. The canopy drive is a beautiful thing to behold and delight to experience.
We arrived at Bradley’s early in the afternoon on a Thursday. As you can see from the picture above, the store is small and the parking lot in front of the store is small, also. Even though we visited on a slow business day, there were plenty of cars and customers coming and going at Bradley’s during our short visit.
Established in 1927, Bradley’s is known for stone ground corn grits and homemade sausage, which is what attracted us to their place of business. On entering the wood A-frame structure, we caught the delicious fragrance of sausage being cooked — a fragrance that draws you to the back of the old wood building, back behind the jar filled and product-laden shelves to the meat market where customers line up for a sausage link on a bun. Irresistible! It was obvious by the earnest faces of those in line that purchasing this item was the reason for their visit to the Bradley’s. There was plenty of foot traffic moving from the front to the back of the store, and we filed right in with the throngs of lunch-seeking pilgrims. That sausage dog was quite a treat!
The store’s board walls are lined with old painted-metal trade signs and advertising images. One large section of wall is covered from floor to ceiling with plaques, most of which are printed with black lettering on distressed wood panels. These are obviously new but fit the old-timey atmosphere of Bradley’s Country Store. A small square plaque on the wall said, “CALL YOUR MOMMA.” That item almost came home with me.
You can see in the picture that Bradley’s has a nice front porch with wooden rockers available for use. Inside, this inviting old building has well used, uneven floorboards,(watch your step), numerous shelves of home canned pickles, peppers, salsa, and sauces, and plenty of other nostalgia-inducing (and I didn’t even grow up in the South!) goodies. There are several Southern cuisine cookbooks to browse, homemade lavender soaps to admire, and of course, Bradley’s homemade sausage and stone ground grits. The staff was cordial, helpful, and knowledgeable.
We happily purchased some of Bradley’s Country Store’s most famous foodstuffs that day (you can order online as well) which we plan to share with family and friends soon. Cheese grits, anyone?
http://www.bradleyscountrystore.com/index.php?route=common/home
BOOKNIP 
So tell me, how do cheese grits taste?
HI Bonita! Kristin made cheese grits for us a while back, and they were incredible! We haven’t used the grits from Bradley’s yet. I don’t know if the flavor will change when stoneground grits are used. Stay tuned…!
This looks like my kind of place! I love grits, though they are hard to find out here in Dallas. When I was growing up in Alabama and Mississippi, I just took them for granted. They were a staple at breakfast.
Great post! Thanks for sharing.
HI Biff! Thanks for reading. What fun to see that you are still an active blogger! I don’t seem to get to my blog much – the last 4 years I have been a contributor to a website called PreachTheStory under their Resources menu. Four or five of us keep the Open Table of book reviews full. PreachTheStory is primarily directed toward people who write sermons. Part of the website is subscription only; part is free to anyone. Those features listed under the Resources menu are free for all to read. Since I have quite a collection of reviews now, all contributed without compensation, I am considering moving many of them over to the Booknip blog. We’ll see…
I really like the look and features on your blog page! Nicely done! How do you do those silhouette images for your on-going storylines? I don’t know if you are on Instagram, but if you are, check out Paperboyo. He uses black cut-out art in truly amazing ways, too
Thanks again for your readership and encouragement!
Teri
Hi Teri! Thank you for your compliments. I was reading back through some of my ancient blog posts and saw your comment and followed your link to see if you were still active. I was quite pleased to see you were! Keep up the awesome work (and sorry I haven’t visited your site much, but I will correct that in the future).
No, I don’t make my silhouette images myself. I don’t have nearly enough artistic talent to do that! I wish I did, though. I will definitely check out Paperboyo, though.