The Wilmington morning star., 1947-08-09
BY E It'll
Star Correspondent

oval ACSPOAuCAt
TABOR CITY, Aug. 81 jus
got in," Mrs. Mary Todd said ex-
citedly as she hurried around the
kitchen of her Tabor City room.
ing house.
sit was so nice today she said,
"we went for a drive. Then we
stopped in at my mothers, and
my sister from Loris was there
and my sister from Whiteville, anC
we had so much fun and time Just
flew"
And with that, she went to work
preparing the evening meal for
the roomers and boarders who
stood around the kitchen enjoying
her excitement.
Ask anybody in these parts
where to get the best meal on
either side of the state line and
they'll say Mrs. Todd's" without
h~esitating to think.
People have been saying that
for 26 years.
Sixty-three years ago, Mrs.
Todd was born Mary Allen Butler
on a farm near Pireway. In 1906,
she married John D. Todd. who
had also been raised in the Pire-
way district.
Together they settled on his
farm and, until his death u years
later, lived together in the laugh
ter and gaiety of their youth.
When death snuffed out their
brief happiness in 1918, Mrs. Todd
and her two children, Virginia and
Hubert, remained on the Pireway
farm for two years before moving
into Tabor City.
The house she bought then is
the same one she now operates
as a rooming house.
When I settled in Tabor City"
Mrs. Todd explained, my house
was the only one in town north
o. the railroad tracks. F. G. Kelly
grew tomatoes where the Ritz
theater now stands and sometimes
when I would call over to him
about buying some, he'd tell me
to help myself"
Her son Hubert, 35, a dentist.
recalled, where Hickman's store
is now used to be the best place
around here to shoot marbles: the
ground vas clear, and hard as a
rock"
The house Mrs. Todd purchased
in 1920 had five rooms. Those five
rooms are still in use. But ten
other rooms have been added
along the sides and as a second
floor until the place is all out
of shape" Mrs. Todd said. And
I'll probably add more"
The first roomer to enter Mrs.
Todd's establishment in 1921 was
e school teacher. Another teacher
moved in before the school year
ended. Shortly after their depar-
ture, two tobacco men moved into
the house for the auction season.
"And the place has been packed
ever since" said Mrs. Todd.
The short, stout, grey haired
woman is fully aware that the
way to a mans heart (and a wom-
ans is via the stomach. Mrs.
Todd's menus are astounding.
Her noon and evening meals al
ways include at least five fresh
vegetables. Her pies at noon and
ice cream and cake each evening,
all homemade, top off meals
which one would never expect to
find anywhere but in his own
mothers kitchen.
Mrs. Todd is most famous for
her fried chicken and it is the
most requested and most frequent
item on her menu. There are peo-
pie who have eaten Mrs. Todd's
fried chicken daily for ten ,1ears,
They cannot explain just what
makes it so delicious; they can
only assure her they want more.
Five colored girls help Mrs.
Todd prepare meals: she feeds Is
people daily. And then there is
James Chestnut who came to Mrs.
Todd's as a hungry little coiored
boy eager to work for something
to eat and who has stayed on
ever since for a period longer
than anyone can remember. :.
Mrs. Todd supports her own
traditions. which her sincerity and
good-heartedness have endear-
ed to the entire community. No
one can marry without Mrs.
Todo's baking the wedding cake.
And each Dec. 25, all those who
arrived into town since the pre-
ceding Christmas come to Mrs.
Todd's for a holiday dinner with
all the trimmings.
The Rotary club has adopted
Mrs. Todd and made her home
Its weekly meeting place. Travel
ing salesmen, buyers of all sorts
OF local produce, businessmen of
all types attracted to Tabor City,
n everyone who happens to be
within driving distance at meal