The Dillard House is a restaurant in Dillard, Georgia, known for its "family style" menu and Southern cooking. It traces its origins to the 1910s, when A. J. Dillard, a descendant of John Dillard, and his wife Carrie opened their stone house to boarders. With the improvement of local transportation infrastructure after World War II, it evolved into a major tourist attraction. Since 1954, it has expanded its dining facilities and added a hotel, cottages, petting zoo, and other attractions.[1] The New York Times wrote in 1983, "[T]he Dillards dug themselves into the land, hung on through good times and bad, and in time turned homecooking and mountain hospitality ... into a big business."[2]
The restaurant and resort, which sit in a town of about 200 people,[3] claims to serve about 800 customers on an average day and up to 3,000 a day during peak season.[4] Patrons have included Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Lady Bird Johnson, Walt Disney, and Jimmy Carter.[5]
The original stone house was nominated for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.[6]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Awas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Phil Gailey. "A Mountain Village Run as a Family Business Faces an Uncertain Future". The New York Times. January 7, 1983. A10.
- ^ Jean Allen. "North Georgia on my mind". Sun-Sentinel. July 6, 1986. 1J.
- ^ Arlette Copeland. "That Ole House". The Macon Telegraph. October 16, 1996. D1.
- ^ Helen Moore. "Dillard House cookbook sprinkles recipes with mountain lore". The News & Observer. September 26, 1996. F6.
- ^ "National Register of Historic Places; Notification of Pending Nominations and Related Actions". Department of the Interior Documents. December 10, 2007.