About

Jim Oliver

A Tribute to the Life and Legacy of an American Treasure

Jim Oliver (August 4, 1937 – May 16, 2007)

Mr. Jim Oliver, a Monteagle mountain fixture and entrepreneur for many years, died unexpectedly on May 16, 2007 at his residence in Monteagle, Tennessee.

BIOGRAPHY

Early Life 1937 – 1959
He was born August 4, 1937, to Irene Allie Phipps Oliver (who was half Cherokee Indian heritage) and Robert Cheatum Oliver in Pelham, Tennessee; there were 4 boys and two girls in the family. Jim’s childhood days to early teens were spent in Payne’s Cove, about 5 miles from Monteagle; this wide spot in the road was known as Big Springs, where water flowed out of the Big Springs Cave at the foot of the mountain, providing water to 4 families who lived close by the springs.

Jim had the typical life of a southern country boy growing up in one of the most impoverished rural areas of the country; bare footed most of the time, attending school in a two room school house, and working with his family of loggers; people who cut down trees and moved them to the saw mill. The Oliver’s were still using mules to pull the logs off the mountain to the sawmill during this time, and Cheatum always bragged about the fine set of matched mules he had. They also worked in the fields plowing gardens & fields, picking crops like corn, potatoes, beans, bailing hay, raising hogs, goats, & chickens, making moonshine for sale, and building a road on a WPA (Works Progress Administration) County road project being built up the mountain from the cove to Tracy City.

When Jim was 12 years old, an accident while logging broke his leg so severely, a compound fracture of his upper leg, that he was bed ridden, unable to walk for over a year, he had to drop out of school. About the time he was able to walk, Cheatum decided to sell his mules, pack up kids, and move to Cleveland Ohio to work in the factories; friends & family from Tennessee already working there encouraged the Oliver’s to come to Cleveland, and helped them find a place to stay. So, the young Jim at about 14 never did go back to school, he never finished the 6th grade after the accident; attending school in Cleveland Ohio was not something the shy country boy intended to do, so he picked up work as he found it. The other children in the Oliver family had already moved out and married, except for Jim and his younger brother Bernie.

Unbelievably, one of the early jobs, shortly after moving to Cleveland, was as a caddy at one of the golf courses in Cleveland; where he had some friends who picked up some pretty good tips carrying golf clubs for the players there. Jim would either ride with friends out to the suburbs of Cleveland to the golf course or take a bus, and there he would carry the clubs; he’d carry two bags at a time because he made better tips that way. One of the side benefits of this work was that it helped restore the strength in his legs, and whole body from the lack of activity for almost 2 years, due to the walking he had to do with all the weight of 2 bags of clubs, chris crossing the fairways to catch up with each golfer. Jim did not a have the mindset to let this impairment keep him down. He had already worked as a logger in the woods and forest of Tennessee, walking up and down the mountains with a team of mules, and this looked pretty easy to him compared to logging.

Eventually, Jim’s friends got him on at other jobs in Cleveland. One of them was at a heavy industrial metals plant called Park Drop Forge; where raw steel was melted into its liquid form, then the hot molten steel (about 2,500 degrees) was poured out of a huge steel bucket into a mold to form motor crank shafts for huge ocean going ships; these crank shafts were 20 to 30 feet long and weighed several tons. Crews of 4 or 5 men working the mold would turn the hot steel object with hand tools after it set up, dislodge it from its mold, where the crew would turn the crank shaft as a huge stationary hammer pounded the shaft, tempering the steel making it harder, and more condensed; called tempering the steel. It was extremely hot heavy work, but young 16 year old Jim Oliver took to it, he made the best money to be made in Cleveland at the time; he and his team were one of the most productive crews, which meant better money. Jim also had another second job as a mechanist for a tool and die company; Jim always said he kept 2 jobs, because you never knew if you might get laid off from one of them. Jim made more money than he’d ever seen, and he bought himself a new Hudson Hornet; later on he had a 1957 Mercury two tone coupe.

At 17 years old, Jim met and married a 19 year old girl from Tennessee, Miss Betty Janice Ross, and less than a year later, along came their first child, James David. Janice was from a family of coal miners, who lived just up the hill from Payne’s Cove, a place called Coalmont Tennessee; about everyone there worked in the coal mines. Although, they lived close by in Tennessee, the two never had never met. Janice’s family had also moved to Cleveland a few years earlier because the coal mining had played out, and auto factory work was booming in the north; again, friends from the area helped them make the move to Cleveland. About this time, Jim’s mom and dad, who had not adapted to city living, moved back to Tennessee, where they opened a little country market in front of their house on the mountain side at the Big Springs crossroads in Payne’s Cove and operated it for about 5 years; Jim’s dad Cheatum, was also making and selling moonshine liquor, probably selling some of it out of the store. In 1959, Cheatum suffered a heart attack and died at 45 years old, and left Irene with a child of 8 years old; Irene couldn’t drive, and was in a bind raising her son Bernie alone. So, being the caretaker he was, Jim quit his big paying job, and moved his family back to Tennessee so he could help take care of his mother and brother; Jim was 22 years old.

Jim and his family lived for a while at Jim’s old family home at Big Springs crossroads, with his mother. Times were not booming in Tennessee, after looking for steady work, and with no success in finding any, Jim decided to borrow $200 from the First Bank of Decherd, and go into the restaurant business, starting a love affair with cookin’ and serving customers in his own way and using his own recipes that he had acquired from generations of family cooks.

The Bee Hive Drive-In, “Pig Joint” 1960 – 1965, (originally opened in early 1940’s)
Monteagle came to be a popular stopping place for travelers crossing the mountain, because it is at the top. In pre automobile days, drivers would stop and rest their mules, oxen, or horses before going farther. In the early days of the automobile, Monteagle still was a stopping place for cars and trucks, and in those days a time to cool off their transmissions and radiators, and checking their brakes, before heading down the other side of the mountain. In the 1940’s, 50’s, and 60’s, there were over 20 service stations and 10 or more cafes/restaurants/diners, some Tourist Lodges, and a few beer joints along the main street of Monteagle, catering to these travelers.

In 1960, the twenty two year old Jim Oliver, started building his reputation for cookin’ (and excitement) at an old “Honky-Tonk” he rented, called the Bee Hive Drive-In with 2 employees (the building was six sided with big picture windows in front); one was his niece 14 year old Shelia Fay Meeks, as a curb hop. The Bee Hive had 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 Tennessee 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! Jim said that he just about starved to death the first six months, but about then a new road construction project, Interstate 24, was being built over the mountain, and workers from that discovered the great BBQ and Cold Beer at the little Bee Hive, and business started booming! The I-24 construction over the mountain would last almost 10 years. Another drive-in business down the road was the competition with Jim, it was called Tubby’s Drive-In, and had been around for a while. Customers would drive from one drive-in to the other, stopping long enough to have a beer or soft drink and check out who was in the parking lot of each one; back & forth & back & forth.

The little Bee Hive was all about parking lot “curb’ service, hamburgers & fries, Jim’s pit barbeque, his soon to be famous ‘Pool Hall Chili’, Schlitz & Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, a pin ball machine, the juke box, and the occasional scuffle out in the parking lot, that of course, Jim had to supervise and keep somewhat under control. During this time, word about Jim’s reputation for good BBQ cookin’ got around, and he was called on to cook barbeque and cut water melons for most of the local and state political races around the area. Jim and his helpers ‘Shorty’ Womack, Marvin Earl ‘Sheep’ Oliver (Brother), and Hamper McBee many nights would go out to a political rally location, dig a barbeque pit, build the fire, put on the meat, and stay up all night cookin’, drinkin’, and tellin’ stories till the meat was done and ready to serve for the political rally. Jim got to know all the local politicians, and their followers, and from here he developed skills and relationships that would serve him the rest of his life to help him get things done for family, friends, and community.

The Bee Hive thrived, and Jim made a reputation with the older local people that owned the town, and they noticed that he was energetic and wanted to do more. Jim was approached by Herman Sanders, one of the old established patriarchs who owned most of the real estate in town; Herman had a building down the road that he wanted Jim to buy, Mr. Sanders said he would finance it for the young business man. Jim acquired a lot of property all around town this way, he never turned down any deals that involved personal financing by the owner. Eventually, Jim would end up with a lot of the property around Monteagle.

The Monteagle Diner 1963 – 1973, (Originally opened in the 1930’s)
This particular building that Mr. Sanders had was an old historic landmark that had been around since the 30’s; it started out as an old retired rail road dining car, sidetracked in Monteagle; it had been previously operated by another restaurant legend from Monteagle, Harvey Thomas, who had moved on to another location.   Jim, along with his brother Melvin, purchased the closed Monteagle Diner, and reclaimed its fame by re-making it one of the most well known restaurants between Chicago and Miami along the famous “Dixie Highway”. “Tennessee Country Ham & Hot Biscuits” was the catch phrase for the Diner, and Jim made sure the travelers knew about the Diner by renting several of the billboards out on the highway; travelers up and down the byway came in to sample the great cookin’ by the Oliver’s at the Monteagle Diner. While he and Melvin operated the Diner, Jim continued to operate the Bee Hive until 1965.

Here at the Diner, Jim’s and Melvin’s mom, Irene was heavily involved in everyday cookin’ and teaching her children and grand children the ways of country cookin’. Everyday, Irene, that was “Mama ‘Rene” to all the grandchildren, would cook up the biscuits, the vegetables, the meats, and the soups. A long time employee named Robert Smart was the Dessert cook. He hand made from scratch all the puddings, cobblers, pies, and bread rolls used at the Diner. He also made the best ‘twice stuffed’ baked potatoes, that you could find anywhere. Business started booming for the Oliver’s. Here at the Diner, Jim put in a big meat cutting band saw, and he would order up sides of beef and pork and cut all his own meat himself, making all the stake cuts, roast, hamburger, bacon, pork chops, and sausage.

Jim worked other jobs too. He purchased other properties from some of the older families of Monteagle, and made money either operating them, or reselling them. One of Jim’s jobs was helping his friend Doyle Lay at the Cumberland Funeral Home. This went on for a few years, and back then, the funeral homes also provided the ambulance service; so, whenever Doyle got a call for the ambulance, he’d come by the Diner and get Jim, and off they’d go to pick up and take someone either to the hospital or the funeral home, depending on the condition of the patient; Jim was also the helper in the embalming room. Jim was equally involved in civic endeavors such as starting the Lions Club, and the Monteagle Mountain Chamber of Commerce , and starting Little League and Babe Ruth Baseball programs in Monteagle, which he supervised and coached for many years.

In 1973, after a successful ten year venture at the Monteagle Diner, Jim and Melvin parted amicably, with Jim selling his interest of The Monteagle Diner to Melvin. For the next 2 years, Jim operated heavy equipment building roads and lakes, and gambled on ball games; making more than enough to feed the family, drive new cars & trucks, and send J D off to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Jim Oliver’s Smoke House Restaurant 1975 – present
In 1975, building it from the ground up, Jim opened up the Smoke House Restaurant with 14 employees, 80 seats in the restaurant, a small gift shop, antique mall, and a menu full of family recipes handed down from generations of Oliver cooks, featuring authentic old smoke house style meats. Utilizing his mother’s recipes, along with her hands on talents in the kitchen, Jim’s country-themed restaurant soon became a regional favorite, and received nationwide recognition as one of the top 500 restaurants in 1988 and again in 1989.

Jim had two financial partners at the start of the Smoke House, John Stamps and Sam Lewis, whom he later bought out; but both men have always remained close friends to Jim Oliver and the Oliver family. All three men, and including J. C. Thomas, also built and started the Monteagle Truck Plaza in 1976. The three Smoke House partners were instrumental and involved together and separately with several other businesses in Monteagle over the years.

Along about 1982, Jim put together his team, including son J. D. Oliver & Hank Landers, to expand the property and promote the Smoke House Restaurant into even a bigger attraction, by building the meeting & retreat center, the Mountain Lodge, and Log cabins for family and corporate retreats, meetings, and vacations. During this time, the Oliver’s expanded their advertising and marketing from the Interstate billboards, to include direct sales to corporate, association, and tour groups. The Smoke House also was successful in obtaining more free press about the business and it’s unique history. In the 90’s, J. D. Oliver began to promote the Smoke House on the internet by starting the first Smoke House Web Page and on line mail order catalogue. Collecting names and addresses of customers coming thru the doors began to add up, and the mail order catalogue business quickly became a integral part of the overall business. Betsy Oliver, Jim’s daughter, became involved with the business as meeting sales manager, lodging manager, and bookkeeper.

South Cumberland State Park 1970 – 1985
During the mid 70’s thru the early 80’s, Jim and his friend Hank Landers were instrumental in the acquisition and development of the initial land parcels of The South Cumberland State Park; a long time dream of Herman Baggenstoss, a noted and well known conservationist from Tracy City, who was also the leader of the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 30’s/40’s. During this time, Jim used his political connections that he had acquired over the years of cookin’ and serving Tennessee Governors, Senators, and Representatives, to influence them into spending the money to purchase the unique lands around the mountain, and then to spend the money to develop trails, campgrounds, and the welcome center for the park. Beginning in 1978, Jim, along with close friend and retired General Motors National Management, Hank Landers, spear-headed the state’s purchase of the then defunct Mountain Golf and Recreation Center, to be incorporated into the state parks system as the South Cumberland Recreation Area Visitor’s & Cultural Interpretation Center. Together, they were instrumental in saving Grundy Lakes and Coke Ovens from irreparable damage as a dumping site while restoring the area’s historic and environmental integrity. Hank served as the initial park superintendent where he put together an army of over 100 workers to build the 10 year trail system, in less than 4 years. Once the initial ground work was in place, other organizations such as the Land Trust, and the Friends of the South Cumberland were formed and they continue to purchase, preserve, and develop many other unique tracts of land for the South Cumberland State Park; today, the South Cumberland State Park is the largest state park in the Tennessee.

Later life, Other Ventures 1980’s thru 2007
In addition to owning and operating a successful family-owned business, Jim devoted much of his time to helping others and in promoting the Mountain’s natural assets. Jim and Hank helped orchestrate the implementation of several civic programs for the people of Grundy County, including the Toddler’s Club, Exceptional Citizens Center, Mountain Medical Center and the Mountain Community Services Corporation. They also worked tirelessly to secure Social Security and veterans’ benefits for numerous individuals and sponsored several people in drug rehabilitation programs.

Over the years of the 90’s thru today, the Oliver’s have been involved in many businesses on the mountain and around the South. They had a successful heavy highway construction business named American Shotcrete, specializing in rock and soil stabilization for over 21 years around Tennessee/Georgia/North Carolina, a successful real estate development company around the mountain specializing in vacation property development such as Clifftops/Laurel Creek/Dripping Springs, and a successful self storage business in Murfreesboro, Storage Plex, still the biggest mini storage facility in middle Tennessee. But the Oliver’s base has always been and always will be the Smoke House, in Monteagle. There’s nothing else like it, and it’s the only one the Oliver’s have done or will do.

2007 to the Present – The Legacy of an American Treasure
Jim passed away May 16, 2007, and left a legacy to his children that they continue.   Today Jim Oliver’s Smoke House is still operated by Jim’s children, J D & Betsy, serving the same authentic family recipes, and a few of them with Betsy’s (Jim’s daughter) twist of her own. The Smoke House has over 70 employees, a 5,000sf General Store full of antiques and old fashioned goods, a 85 room Mountain Lodge, 23 Vacation Cabins featuring Log & Timber Frame construction with fireplaces and Jacuzzi tubs, a 5,000sf Conference Center accommodating meetings & reunions, and live music shows every Friday & Saturday night featuring talented music artist songwriters, and over 20 acres of campus for customers to have fun on.   “Dad was never satisfied with standing still, he built and built and built until he created a business that could cater not only to local folks, but also to all the travelers up and down the highways” states James David Oliver, Jim’s son.

In conjunction with the 50th Anniversary in 2010, Jim Oliver’s Smoke House started featuring “Music on the Mountain with The Best of Nashville”, singer/songwriter acoustic music shows, every Friday & Saturday night, starting at 6:30pm/ct, free to all Smoke House customers as a Thank You to all our loyal customers. Since then, there has been over 800 nights of live shows, featuring some of the greatest music artist songwriters found in the US.

The future of the Smoke House holds much promise. This generation of Oliver’s are embracing the Internet, social networks, and technologies and building an E-commerce On Line Store for marketing the over five hundred Smoke House Brands.

It’s the goal to keep the old traditions alive and in place, but also remember where the Oliver’s came from and how, and use these new methods of internet business, just like Jim used the new Interstate in 1960’s and 70’s, to grow the Smoke House with the times, into new markets and new customers on the current “information highway”.