The Sweet Tooth is an iconic place in Murphy NC. Most folks get excited when the ice cream shop opens each summer and are sad when it closes for the winter.
I had not been to The Sweet Tooth in ages until recently. Chatter convinced us all to go for ice cream one evening, something we’ve never really done.
As we sat out on the picnic tables and enjoyed our sweet treats I was transported to being a young teenager.
After church on Sunday nights a group of us girls would beg and plead with our parents to do something after church so we could spend time with each other.
Most often everyone would go to one of our houses. The grownups would drink coffee and talk and the kids would run around acting silly and have fun.
Every once in a great while we could convince them to go all the way to town to get something to eat. If it was in the summer the whole group would go to The Sweet Tooth. Us girls loved talking and eating our dripping cones while we watched the cars go by on the road.
There were four girls, including me, who went to church with each other since before I can remember till we were all grown. What camaraderie we had!
Today only two of us still live close enough to visit often, but in those days the four of us were happy to be together as much as we could be—especially if we had ice cream in our hands.
Last night’s video: Summer in Appalachia.
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What a great memory! When I was a kid, even into my teenage years, there was always a group that either went to Shoney’s for desert after Sunday night church or to my mom’s best friend’s house. The kids would play in the basement or outside. We would usually have frozen pizza over there. Wish we still had this Sunday night routine so our kids could now experience that easy pace of life.
What wonderful memories! I’m glad you went with the girls and Matt and Austin and made more memories this week!!
Nothing transports you back in time like visiting a place that’s been around since you were a child. In my area there is a little road side drive in called Boehringer’s. They serve cheesesteaks, burgers and such, as well as homemade ice cream. They have lemon ice cream which I don’t find very often. You order your food and then sit outside along a creek to eat. The ducks that inhabit the area are very entertaining for the children. My husband and I ate there in our youth, we took our children there and now take our grandchildren. Watching them play in the creek and enjoying our treats transports you back to an earlier time.
The county seat and town I grew up in (just 15 mi from where I live) has an old Dairy Queen. It’s an A framed bldg with 2 walk up windows to order from surrounded by all glass where you can watch them pull the ice cream and make your treat. It has tables with umbrellas to sit outside and eat at, it sounds a lot like your ice creams stand. It was always the happening place 30 yrs ago. Over the very recent years though they have added a drive up, closed in much of the windows, made it a brazier, raised prices to the point that sadly, this year especially, I’m wondering how is gonna stay in business, with no one ever there. It would be a such a shame to loose this iconic gem.
Hi Tipper. When I was a kid my parents and sister and I would come up to visit my Aunt Norva and Uncle Virgil O’Dell and we would always walk over to the Sweet Tooth for ice cream. The Sweet Tooth was very close by to Aunt Norva’s house. They owned O’Dell’s Cafeteria Restaurant and their house was right next door to the restaurant and I believe the Sweet Tooth was on the other side of the restaurant.I believe the restaurant is now the state employment office. There was a gas station and store across the street where we would got to to by candy and soda pop. I remember as a teen walking from their house to downtown Murphy to look in the stores and I would walk to the pool to go swimming. Aunt Norva was my dad’s sister. They were born in Eunaka and grew up there. Fond memories of a simpler time.
Where I grew up, there was a Dairy King just about 15 minutes away. I worked there one summer when I got my drivers license. Dad would come home from work and let me have the car to go to work all evening. On Sundays, my parents would drop me off and pick me up so they could have the car all day. I made $1.50 an hour and could eat lunch for free. It was enough to buy my school clothes and have a little extra to save for Christmas. I don’t remember going there for ice cream as a kid though. We probably couldn’t really afford it. We did, however, have something most others did not—a milk cow and an ice cream churn. We made homemade ice cream a lot. In the summer we would pick wild strawberries and put in it. It was delicious and I never really felt like I was missing anything. I thought other kids who didn’t have a milk cow were the ones missing out.
We have a Baskin-Robbins. It has 31 flavors. Once we went to Kauai and they only had 15, so half the flavors. We would go and they would be so crowded, they had tables outside. My fave was Jamocha Almond Fudge. They since moved to another part of town in a smaller space, and we stopped going. It lost its appeal. Now we just get our ice cream from the store. We also have a place that makes real ice cream shakes. It’s called Teddy’s Bigger Burgers.
There was drug store with a soda fountain just a 10 minute walk from our house. That’s where we went for treats . . . usually a cherry coke but sometimes a ‘thick’ shake if we had a quarter. The first Krispy Kreme shop in Raleigh was located around the corner at the back of the building the pharmacy was in. My oldest sister worked at KK as a teenager and often brought home sweet treats. Later, a drive-in called Johnny’s opened on the edge of town. I think it might even still be there. That same sister and her then boyfriend (later husband) would take me with them when they went to Johnny’s. I couldn’t have been more than 4 years old which would have made it right after WWII.
Great memories. Thanks for helping me recall them, Tipper.
God’s Blessings to all and especially for Miss Louzine.
YUM ! Mine was’ the” Soda Shop’!!!!! wONDERFUL MEMORIES
My friends and I would walk to one of the first drive-in restaurants in Ohio. It was called the Jug. They had banana popsicles, my favorite. What a fond memory. We ordered at the window since we were in Elementary school and too young to drive. Years later we drove there and had delicious cheeseburgers and frosted mugs of root beer. It’s hard to believe that they served the root beer in glass mugs!! That was really the old days when they attached a metal tray to the window of your car.
Tipper that is such a lovely memory takes me.back to summers with my paternal Grandparents on special occasions Birthdays especially they would be roasted pig and then all of the males would be manning the ice cream crank we would have coconut ice cream or vanilla with whatever fruit my Grandmother had cooked (I think its called stewed fruit) and on other Sundays we would like you persuade the adults in our family to go to the Plaza for ice cream thanks for the memory
I’m 64 and have fond memories of going to Tastee freeze with my dear friends! Sometimes we would park our bikes, run inside and get a 10 cent cup of crushed ice to cool us down on a very hot day! Simple, cheap fun! ❤️
I miss those days! Oh to go back for just a day!
We found a little icecream shop a ways off but it is so worth it. It’s called Aunt Bea’s. And let me tell you, they pile the icecream on there. They don’t skimp. So many different flavors. I always get Cotton Candy and my grandson does to. My husband gets Butter Pecan. Tell Granny we love her and still sending her name up to Jesus.
When I was a girl, my parents, every once in awhile, would take me to a drive-in sundae place, where we ordered in our car, and a girl would bring us our ice cream. However, in truth, we all preferred to eat ice cream at home because we lived in the woods and loved our beautiful land.
Tony’s in Gastonia, NC makes their own ice-cream.- many flavors. I’ve tried a lot of them through the years but usually go for a dish of grape or a shake when I am in the area.
When I was growing up and my parents and sister and I would visit my Aunt Norva and Uncle Virgil O’Dell we would always walk up to the Sweet Tooth for ice cream. They lived a very short distance from the Sweet Tooth. Aunt Norva and Uncle Virgil owned O’Dell’s Cafeteria Restaurant and their house was right next door to it. When I was a teen I would walk to downtown Murphy and go to the little shops and walk to the community pool to go swimming. There was a little gas station and store that we would walk across the street from their house for candy and soda pop. We would also go to the John C. Campbell Folk School for square dances. Fond memories of a simpler time. Aunt Norva was my Dad’s sister.
Valdese has “Myra’s”. It is a 1950s style diner. It is know for its ice cream. In my case it was their hot fudge cake!
Longview has “Circus Hall of Cream”. It is less well known that “Myra’s” but its hot fudge cake was just as good.
Both have been around for decades. They were both popular when I moved to this area in 1975. That’s closing in on 50 years. I don’t know how long they were in business prior to that.
Oops, I meant to write The Sweet Tooth when referring to your post, not The Ice Cream Shoppe. The Ice Cream Shoppe is a place I take my granddaughter in our area to get ice cream. Sorry about that…I’m old and having what we call a Senior Moment. ;D
Love reading about your younger memories and how you still keep in touch with the friends you grew up with. It’s funny how visiting a place can bring back so many memories and one feels transported back in time, like the Ice Cream Shoppe did for you. I love people, places, and things that bring back happy memories.!
Ice cream is always good, especially with our family!!! Prayers for all! Take care and God bless ❣️
Lots of ice cream shops have popped up in my town this summer, but everyone still goes to the Exon station that has soft serve. They give you the most for your money!! The little ice cream shops in town are so expensive for a family!!
Everyone have a great Thursday and enjoy this beautiful weather. I know I will.
We’ve eaten at the Sweet Tooth several times. When parents are nearby, there is less likely for the teens to get into troubles. Good memories.
We had a popular ice cream shop in town when I was growing up. Town was at least a half hour away from my little community so we didn’t get to go very often. Dad probably took us a few times but I can only remember going one time and getting a big vanilla cone. If a girl had a date who took her to Doris’s Dairy Bar it was the talk of the school the next day. I miss those good old days!
Praying for Granny to get well soon!
LOVE this story! How awesome to have childhood friendships that last through our adult years!
Where I grew up we had an ice cream stand called Kay’s Dairy Bar. We surely loved going there for a cone, we’d beg mom to take us to town after supper, she’d give in a few times each summer. I can still taste that delicious ice cream and the excitement of seeing kids we hadn’t seen since school ended for summer break. The simplest pleasures of life back then. I’m happy with my life now, but I’d like to go back just for a few minutes and have a cone at Kay’s and see all those young faces.
When we were teenagers, we went to a place called Jan’s Dutch Boy Drive-Thru. They had the best french fries and hot fudge cake! We would go after church every Sunday night, and it got so that the staff would have the tables pulled together and ready for us when we got there. It was so awesome for us as kids to have a place we could call “ours,” and now to have those shared memories as adults.
The Sweet Tooth in Murphy is an iconic spit, I enjoy treating myself now and then. A perfect place to gather with friends.
I’ll have to visit the Sweet Tooth when i drive over to Murphy!
Tipper, the Sweet Tooth looks like a great place to see the locals driving by and grab a cool ice cream to wet the whistle! Isn’t it funny how being there recently took your mind back to your girlhood and a time you must have relished. It happens to me more and more as I get closer to the leaving end of this life. As I sat eating a home style supper, I found myself from the tastes and smells as well as the comfort the food provided, almost hearing and smelling mommy and my loved ones gathered ‘round the kitchen table. If I told you tears didn’t come and my heart didn’t yearn for times way past, I’d be telling tales. If I could push a button to slow down changes, I think I might… God bless dear Granny today as well as the newly retired couple! We love you in NC!
I loved your memories!! How wonderful that you have remained close friends with one of your group forever! I have zigzagged moving across this country so much since graduating high school, that I have lost contact with so many friends, old and new. With all good intentions you promise to call, email, visit when in town , etc.. But life has a way of getting busy, and slowly friends simply become wonderful, loving memories. Everywhere I go, I quickly meet such great new friends. Most of them are brothers and sisters in Christ. I console myself, when I pause and feel the pang of missing them, that one day I will see all the fantastic people I have met in my life again – in heaven! And then we can visit forever!! I wonder if we will have ice cream in heaven?? I’m not saying that to be funny, I honestly do wonder if we will have the same kinds of foods there that we enjoy here. Since we won’t have needs of any sort, will we even need to eat to keep our bodies fueled? I know, how does ice cream fuel your body? But it does bring happiness!! My favorite is Rocky Road.
Donna. : )
That is such a sweet memory. Our Sweet Tooth came in two ways. One was on hot summer afternoons my dad would send my brother to a little local store and gas station to get us all a coke (every kind of soft drink was called a coke). This was a rare occurrence so it was a special treat. My brother would gather up any return bottles from previous times to get the deposit credit and off he’d go. Another was sometimes in the evening my dad would drive to a store 5miles away that was open late and buy a gallon of vanilla ice cream. There were 9 in our household so the entire gallon was gone in a flash! My dad would also buy Hershey syrup to go with it. Great memories.
Such a good memory, makes you smile and remember your own youth and those special friends. Here in high point we had a place called Zesto’s they had dipped cones, yummy. It’s hard to find a dipped cone anymore. It’s been long since gone but it’s memory lives on here. Love to granny
Dairy Queen’s still have dipped cones, at least here in Texas they do.
Went went out for ice cream often as a child. It was glorious.
There is a small restaurant at Anderson,SC (the Nutty Sweet Shop) that still has the old fashion real milk shakes and some flavors of ice cream you can not find anywhere else, they also have hamburgers, hot dogs and similar items. I take my grandson there and buy him his favorite, a peach milkshake and my favorites strawberry milkshake or Florida Fruit ice cream. They have a sign in their window that says they opened in 1951. Their milkshakes are made with real ice cream and are so thick and full of small pieces of real fruit you can hardly drink them with a straw. This place is almost always busy.
My wife’s daddy would sometimes take them (5 girls) to Greenville, SC to Krispy Kreme donut shop (25 miles) after church on Sunday night. He had to go by his place of work to be sure the steam and some other things would be ready for Monday and would take them on up to Greenville. Sometimes this his was his only time he had with them, he often worked 80 hours a week and has worked as many as 100 hrs in a week. My family just came home after church, we never had enough money for doing anything like this. After the 5 girls were grown and married we all went by their parents home after church on Sunday night. Between the girls and their husbands, grandchildren and sometimes other family members and friends they would sometimes be 20-25 of us there enjoying just being together. Because of so many of these dying we no longer do this. One of my reasons for preaching spending every minute possible with your family. No amount of money is worth more than than times spent together like this.
How wonderful is the ice cream place and more importantly, the ‘friends’ get together. We grew up with a place called, Dreamette. and boy was it yummy. It is still standing and lucky for us ‘upstate Floridians’ it never closes. I, just the other day, thought I had lost our ice cream churn, but found it. We probably will be able to get another ‘churn’ out before the cooler weather starts. I bet Murphy is growing. Give Granny my best and am praying for her. God Bless
Wegot a Sweet Tooth in Anderson but it’s a cafe,not an ice cream shop.
Ron, don’t forget about the strawberry cakes from The Sweetery bakery shop. They will make your tongue smack your brains out! A coworker brought one to me when I retired. Notice how I like all flavors of many sweet things as long as it’s strawberry.
Your post today makes me think of Anderson’s Dairy Bar. It is a 50’s diner style place in my hometown complete with the two colors of linoleum, plate glass windows, jute box, chromed stools and neon. It has been there as long as I can remember. I think it opened when I was a pre-schooler. Some few of the national chains have come in also but Anderson’s endures. I like those local places better than the national chains.
Ron, we used to hang out in a diner such as you have described when I lived in Anderson in the 1950s. It was Larry’s, owned by Larry Stanley. A nephew of mine named Stanley was named for Larry. I graduated from Boys High in ’52 and AC in ’54. I’m as old as dirt.