CELEBRATING OVER 50 YEARS IN THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY ON MONTEAGLE MOUNTAIN!
Since 1960, 20 million customers from all over the world have come & gone through Jim Oliver’s doors and sampled his delicious Southern Cookin’ inspired by generations of family cooks. Jim Oliver passed away in May 2007, and his adult children, James David and Betsy Oliver (pictured left), are now running the family business. Jim is also survived by daughter, Nancy Oliver.
How It All Got Started
In 1960, twenty-one year old Jim Oliver started building his reputation for cookin’ and excitement at an old “Honkey-Tonk” he rented called the Bee Hive Drive-In…with 2 employees, 6 counter stools, a juke box, a pin ball machine, and curb service to the parking lot which served as the dining room and fist fight brawling area; there wasn’t a lot to do around town, so fightin’ was pretty popular entertainment for all the mountain and valley locals. When Jim first opened the little drive-in, the local State Trooper, Bill Malone, told him to either, “run it right, or I’ll run you off”. So, Jim took to cleaning up the brawlin’ and fightin’ himself …and that he did. For the rest of his life, Jim Oliver was known as a man who didn’t put up with… well, you know what I’m talking about! Visit: https://thesmokehouse.com/
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