A few miles north of Macon, Georgia, is a small old mill town named Juliette. It was once a railroad town with a large grist mill, which sits on the banks of the Ocmulgee River; but when the railroad and grist mill faded, so did the town. It later became famous as the site of the movie, “Fried Green Tomatoes,” in 1991. The movie was based on a book by Fannie Flagg, “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Café,” and was a huge hit. The town had pretty well faded away when the grist mill closed. But its fortunes were revived with the success of the movie. Today it still enjoys strong tourism, because of the movie, and the “Whistlestop Café” is now a thriving restaurant in reality.
The building it is in once housed an old hardware store, and was repurposed as a café for the movie. My wife and I have been there several times for lunch, when out and about that way, and thoroughly enjoyed it each time.
The small two-block Main Street now houses a variety of small businesses, and the town has enjoyed a modest comeback as a
result. I was not familiar with Fanny Flagg, the author, before I saw the movie, many years ago. I recently stumbled across a sequel that she wrote, many years later, “The Wonder Boy of Whistlestop,” at a “Friends of the Library” bookstore at the library in Brunswick, GA. I hadn’t known it existed, but it was only a couple of years old, at that point. Of course I grabbed it as soon as I saw it! It was an easy read, with short chapters, and very engrossing. I had a hard time putting it down. I wound up going online, found two more copies, and gave all three to friends to enjoy.
Good books are a wonderful treasure! They can expand one’s horizons, take us to different places and times, and sometimes are better when read the second time around.
Most of the time, I have found the books on which a movie is based to be much better than the movie itself. But sometimes, the movie fleshes out a story much better than one’s imagination would do by reading the book.
“Fried Green Tomatoes” was one such movie. So was “Dr. Zhivago.” They just did better justice to the story than my mind could imagine by reading.
And sometimes, enjoying one book can lead one to search out others by the same author, whether sequels or not. I have done this many times. But that’s another story.
I am glad we found the little town of Juliette, GA. And glad we had the chance to enjoy the food at the Whistlestop Café! Both were major treats. And that’s one reason we like to travel, when we can.
Life is full of surprises!
Rafe Semmes is a local writer. He attended Savannah High and UGA.