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Moonshine, Illinois
In the
Southeast corner of Clark County Illinois, way out in the boondocks where the
hoot owls chase the chickens, a very unique location can be found (after a lot
of stops to ask directions) to buy a hamburger. Now, not just your
run-of-the-mill fast food hamburger, but a special, unique, pure-beef, old-time
made-by-hand, special hamburger. At Moonshine,
Illinois (click here for a map) , you can buy a hamburger that has made our location of the state
famous in many states of our union, Canada, and several foreign countries.
Forget about your special sauce on this hamburger, today I had a choice of
garden raised tomatoes, relish, onions, and many other condiments to garnish my
lunchtime repast. Today for noon meal I stopped seven miles from our farm for a
world-famous moon burger.
Moonshine has a population of 2, and Roy Lee and Helen Tuttle revived the old country store at that location in 1982. Open from 6 AM and closing at 1, several different sandwiches are available, along with chips, colas, and other related snack foods. Don't arrive after 12:30 and expect Helen to cook a burger for you though, as she has a strict policy of closing the grill at that time. Some cold items are still available after that time, but the grill is shut off and cleaned at 12:30 sharp! Helen just has to enforce that closing time, or she would be plagued with stragglers for the rest of the afternoon.
We get a lot of enjoyment from the many who stop for directions as we work in fields near the roads close to the old general store. We can almost tell by the dress and actions when they stop what the question will be, as the Moonshine store is not easy to find, and those stopping to ask almost always have a quizzical look in their eye. We give them clear directions: “Just go to Bellaire, turn north at the first T road, and at Haugetown (pronounced hog-town) go east two miles”. The mention of Moonshine and Haugetown in the same sentence is sure to bring a laugh to these confused folks. Haugetown, which was once a glazed-tile general store itself, is not even identified as a town now, so a little more explanation is necessary.
You can even find Moonshine on the World Wide Web!
Moonshine can even be found on the World Wide Web! Clark county is proud of this relic from the past, and promotes it as a tourist attraction. The local food service inspector from the Clark County Health Department has been rumored to say she could say about anything about conditions in the many fine restaurants in the county, but she would be tarred and feathered if she found fault with the Moonshine store! Not to worry, Helen Tuttle and her helpers are very clean and particular about their offerings, as they have quite a reputation to protect.
In early 2004, CBS Sunday morning program even featured the store, with film clips from the early gathering of locals for coffee at 6AM, all the way through the noon guests of this eatery. During the hour and a half show, many "teaser" clips kept building the story of the reporter's quest to find this location in the wilderness.
Many find the old general store evidently, as A guest book located by the cash register is like a window to that same worldwide location. Addresses and names from all 50 states and many foreign countries can be found in that dog-eared, tattered book near the cash register. I noticed as I left the store at noon today a Minnesota, Indiana, and Texas license plate, as well as the multitude of Illinois truck plates found on the vehicles of local contractors, farmers, oil well pumpers, and many regulars parked in the grass field across the road.
Cash is king at the Moonshine store!
As I was paying for my lunch today, the local woman told the cashier what she had for lunch. An old-fashioned credit register was opened, and many receipts were visible in their individual clips holding them into place on the metal trays making the pages of this register. I asked if the locals that bought on credit were sent monthly bills and received the reply, "Oh, they come around and pay eventually--most of the time!" When you come to Moonshine to eat, don't bring your Visa, Discover, or MasterCard, and they don't take American Express! Cash is king at the old Moonshine store.
Some come dressed for the occasion!
Several years ago when I visited at noon, a couple of carloads of young adults in their late 30's or early 40's came in 50's model cars to have a bag of chips, a soda, and a moon burger. The guys had ducktail haircuts of the 50's period, and the gals wore the famous 50's poodle skirts. Some go to great lengths to really make this visit a special occasion. Most of the people are not as into the period as those visitors, but the draw of a return to the past, lures many to sample the experience of this special place.
The old country stores are almost gone now.
In our part of the country, several of the buildings that once housed the many general stores still stand or are crumbling in ruins. Moonshine is the only working store of this type left in the area. Old-timers still refer to corners where some of the stores that once thrived at those locations with the name of the town that once made up the non-existent village today. Advance, Palmersburg, Gila, Point Pleasant, and Jackville are but a few of the many locations that no longer have buildings, but are still remembered. Most of these areas also handled mail for the nearby residents as well as being a trading center. Better transportation has made the existence of these locations unnecessary as rural residents travel farther to shop and take care of other business.
As I looked over the Moonshine store on my first visit some twenty years ago, I marveled at how much it resembled the store near my Fathers farm in Gila, Illinois. There must have been a basic plan for building so many of these stores back in the late 1800's and early 1900's, as many are almost identical. Most of them are a rectangular box, with large windows in the front, but only small windows placed high along the sides. The lack of windows on the side allowed for shelves holding merchandise to extend high into the ceilings, which were very high, most of them 10 or 12 feet to the top. Grabbing tongs and/or a small ladder allowed the storekeeper to reach the goods on the higher shelves. Often found near the back of most of these stores was an old pot-bellied stove, near which the elders would hold court, telling their stories of the past and current events.
The Moonshine store is like many, as it also has a second story, where the owners often made their homes. Back in the hay-day of these ubiquitous small general stores, the owner would keep the store open at night until the last person left. Many times I have heard locals in our neighborhood tell of the prank they once played on the proprietor of the Palmersburg store a half-mile from our farm home. Since he would not leave the store as long as someone was there, one winter evening the community made plans to visit the store in shifts, so someone was always there. True to his word, the storekeeper stayed up all night visiting and waiting on the customers, and was very sleepy the next day when he was told his ordeal was all a prank.
Times have changed, farmers have changed, and lifestyles are not the same as they once were in rural areas. Some of these changes are a blessing, as living without the conveniences of electricity and indoor plumbing was not as great when a person recalls the “good ole days” in stories of the present day. Still, hard times and short crops were perhaps easier to endure, as a ten-cent can of coal oil per week was the only utility we had to pay in those days. We all depended more upon each other for entertainment and support in those early days in agriculture, and we have lost some of that feeling today. Good neighbors are still plentiful around our farm though, as many have not forgotten that we all need each other for support in times of need.
Some in the cities may still think of rural farm communities as lost in time compared to their lives, but we share most all the technology, and sometimes are even more advanced, than those in more populous areas. Even to us in the farm area, a place like Moonshine, Illinois, is a relic of the past to be visited and appreciated as a museum of our past. But best of all, most of us have not forgotten our roots, and still value our friends and neighbors.
-©John Dappert 2004
