R and J in the USA

We made ourselves at home for the bulk of our morning doing our blog writing at the Lamphouse Coffee Shop in Lynch, Kentucky. It is a coffeehouse with a tremendous amount of history in this once booming mining town. We were right across the street from the Portal 31 coal mine that we had toured the day before and learned about how much of the coal that turned itself into electricity to fuel the country for decades had been mined in this town. This coffee shop had been built to serve the miners for the decades when the mine was active. The mine shut down in the late 60’s and, with that, the coffee house. It had been re-opened by the missions that had come into town in recent years to help the people of Lynch to pull out of some of the challenges that come when a town that had originally been built on generations of mining lost their core livelihood and way of life. 

When Julie went up to the counter to order some eggs and bacon, she saw a basket of moonpies. We had seen moonpies at various spots throughout Kentucky and knew very little of them. 

Julie asked Octavia, the ebullient woman helping her, about the pies.

”Are moon pies made in Kentucky? We’re not from around here and we’ve seen them around. I’m just kind of curious.” 

Octavia joined right in on the curiosity. 

“I am not from here either,” she said enthusiastically.

Then Octavia turned tone and leaned over on the counter with eagerness and a glint in the eye that implied the good stuff was coming.

”Let me tell you about moonpies.” She whispered dramatically.

Julie was all in for whatever was coming next.

”Yes! Please do!” Julie encouraged.

”I only moved here two years ago from central Kentucky in Lexington and, apparently, around here, it’s a thing to have moon pies with RC cola.”

Octavia was excitedly telling the story and Julie was eagerly hanging on every word.

”Our boss decided to start putting out the moon pies and immediately, that week, I had people asking me, ‘Where’s the RC cola?’” She continued. “I had no idea what they were talking about at first.” She continued.

”I mean, I must have had at least one person ask me every day or so! I didn’t know it was a thing, but its a thing.”

”Oh wow!” Julie said, “When something is a thing you grow up with, its special and you’ve gotta have it just right. I get it!”

Octavia wasn’t into moonpies herself, but she was now fully in on the hunt to find out how moonpies made their way to Lynch, Kentucky.

Octavia motioned over to her co-worker, Terah. 

“She’ll find out. She is a hound for information!” Octavia said as it was clear Terah was already deep into her phone to find out how moonpies and RC cola became a thing in this corner of southeast Kentucky.

”No, they weren’t made in Kentucky. They are made in a bakery in Chattanooga Tennessee.” Terah reported.

We all nodded thankful for the information. 

“Close enough.” We all said.

”I’m learning with you, Julie!” Octavia said with that big smile of hers. 

Every time either of us went up to the counter, she called us by name having taken note of our names when she had taken our order. She said our names with the biggest smile that made us feel welcome and made it clear she took pride in showing that level of care for each person that came through the door.

We continued hanging out and writing our various posts when Terah came up to us and graciously, but quietly worked to get our attention. She was excited. She had done more research. And she had made more discoveries.

”It does have to do with Kentucky!” She said with that look of satisfaction of having not given up the search. 

”It was a Kentucky miner in 1917 that had gone to that bakery in Chattanooga and asked them to make him something as big as the moon.” Terah reported this all with excitement and pride at having followed through on the research and we thought it was pretty neat to be sitting right across from the mine and learning how all these pieces connected around us.

Octavia was right, Terah was the go to person if there was a mystery to be solved. She wasn’t going to stop until people got the answers they were looking for. 

Inspired by Terah, whose name she proudly shared with us was a combination of Terry and Leah, her parents, we dug even a little deeper and learned that this thing of Moon Pies and RC cola that we were all learning about was, according to google, a “beloved southern tradition” and that it became popular during the depression due to its affordability and filling nature, eventually earning it the nickname, “The Workman’s Lunch” and there are two songs that commemorate its popularity.

Lynch is a small and modest town with boatloads of history. And, in that small coffee shop in that small town, we learned about how much big heart can live in a place so small and modest as we all learned a little bit about that history together.