If you’ve ever driven north on I-575 towards Blue Ridge, you’ve undoubtedly driven by Poole’s BBQ in East Elijay. It’s impossible to miss – with an entire hillside covered in colorful painted cutouts of pigs featuring the names of customers from around the country. The iconic restaurant is closing next weekend after more than 30 years, and Georgia will be losing an important political landmark. For decades political candidates would stop by to visit ‘Colonel’ Oscar Poole, a staunch Republican who started the restaurant with his wife, Edna. State and national politicians including Johnny Isakson, Nathan Deal, and Pat Buchanan (among many others) made Poole’s a key campaign stop as they traveled the state. Poole passed away in 2020, but his family says they hope whoever purchases the restaurant and the land it sits on carries on in his tradition.
If you have something from your neck of the woods you’d like to see featured, please send it to phickey@insideradvantage.com
