Where can you find 200 years of history and a passel of Georgia-grown products, all in one place? Go no farther than 3613 White Sulphur Road in northeast Hall County. That’s where you’ll find Butch’s Market, recently opened by the Reynolds/Hemmer family on their original farm from the 1850s.
Steeped in history of northeast Georgia and offering plenty of products grown or made in Georgia, Butch’s Market has plenty to be proud of. Opened several months ago, the store represents a storied past.
Members of the sixth and seventh generations of Garland “Butch” Reynolds’ family have been raising 100 percent all-natural grass-fed Belted Galloway Beef and heritage Tamworth pigs renowned for its flavor under the name White Sulphur Farms for the past 20 years.
“When Bartemeous Reynolds came south to this area in the early 1800s, he purchased land knowing that his family would make their home here for years to come,” said Mary Reynolds Hemmer, one of Reynolds’ sixth-generation descendants and part-owner and general manager of Butch’s Market at White Sulphur Farms. “As far back as I can remember, our family has been connected with the land as farmers and business people in what is now Hall County. When the first Reynolds ancestors came here, it was part of Jackson County, so our family has deep roots here. In fact, our family owns some of the oldest homes in Hall County.”
Once a stagecoach route
Hall County was chartered in 1818. Before the automobile, her great-great grandfather drove the stagecoach taking guests to the then-popular White Sulphur Springs Hotel. Known as a leading resort hotel in its day, it attracted visitors from up and down the eastern seaboard.
Learn about the real Butch.
The Reynolds family has long been prominent in Hall County and North Georgia. Her uncle Garland (the Jr) was a well-known architect across the Southeast, especially in Georgia, where many buildings in Gainesville were designed in part or entirety. Her parents and brother, Dr. John and Mrs. Jane Hemmer and Lee Hemmer, manage the farm now, and she, her brother and parents are owners of the store.
Her father John is a semi-retired orthopedist and her mother Jane served as a Hall County commissioner and as a state senator. Jane has been very involved in Hall County’s art scene and served on many non-profit boards. Brother Lee is an industrial and commercial real estate agent and a founding partner of Candler Real Estate.
Butch’s Market opened three months ago in what had been an 1850s 3-room home on the White Sulphur Farm land.
“The idea of a consumer store had been brewing for a long time and about three years ago we turned the idea into serious conversation. Why not rehabilitate and renovate this original home, the oldest on the farm, preserving as much of the original building as possible and turn it into a store?”
About 60 percent of the structure is original with hardwood walls and hand-blown glass in two front windows. “You can see the swirls and bubbles. It was important to preserve as much of the original building as we could, but from a practical and safety standpoint, we had to rebuild other parts.”
They brought the building up to ADA standards and added a bathroom in the back.
Seeking musicians
“We restored the wrap-around porch, and it has proved to be a fabulous gathering spot for visitors who just want to buy a beverage and enjoy the peacefulness,” she said. “As the weather gets warmer, we’re looking for musicians who want to come play and sing here and perhaps some vendors and artists to demonstrate their craft.”
Hand-made Adirondack chairs from Down Home Dexterities in Ellijay fill the porch with plenty of seating. “We have a great partnership with them; we keep their catalogs in the store and people can order the chairs online using a special code.”
The store is named for her grandfather, Minor Garland Reynolds senior, who worked as a butcher selling meat from around the late 1920s into the 1950s.
“We called him ‘Granddaddy,’ ” she explained. “But everyone in town called him “Butch” because he was a butcher, so what could be better to pay tribute to his occupation than to name the store after him?”
All of the furniture has come from previous generations, including Butch’s original butcher block and meat counter.
“That butcher block saved Butch from certain death during Gainesville’s 1936 tornado,” Hemmer said. “The story goes that he climbed under it as the tornado wreaked its destruction.”
She said that the vision for Butch’s Market store is two-fold: to introduce people to products grown and made in Georgia, and two, to share and preserve the history of the area.
Georgia products represent 85 percent of inventory. Examples include cheese from Newborn, teas from Macon, crackers and butter from Atlanta and two types of Georgia-produced coffee. Other Georgia products include Rock House Farm and Dairy, Tosta Family Farm, Big Oak Beef, New Creation Soda, Grinola, Georgia Sourdough Co, Maggie Lyon Chocolates, Mountain Fresh Dairy, and Cindy’s Bits and Pieces. In all, Butch’s presents products from about 30 cities and towns in the state.
Local artists, too
Various Georgia authors are featured.
Works by area artists are on display and available for sale, including sculptures by Jane Hemmer, wood-turned bowls by John Hemmer, paintings by Marine Artist Anne Brodie Hill, portraits by Connie Lynne Riley and pottery created by Philip Zoercher.
Southeastern authors are featured as well, including Eileen O’Hara, Kim Megahee and Mark Ozboyd. Hemmer’s books “Phe and the Work of Death” and “Buttermilk and Dragonflies” are offered, as well as fiction and children’s books.
A portion of the store is dedicated to artifacts from earlier times.
“In some ways, it feels like we’ve come full circle,” she said. “Back in the day, there was a store in the original settlement on the farm property, when this area served as a crossroads for travelers near the north of the Oconee River,” she said. “My grandfather operated the farm as a farm coop of sorts, with families living in some of the homes on the farm and working on it.
“Now we’re creating the next generations of Reynolds’ legacy here in Hall County.”
Photos: by Alan Hope
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