We got the last baguette in Patisserie on Main. This important news is more about exploration than it is about bread. This store is newly opened in Madison, and sold out of its daily allotment of upscale breads and pastries by 2PM that day.
This made the management very happy, and was very interesting to us on several levels. Firstly, we like exploring the area and make it a point to try everything. This is because we want to have places to put guests onto if we can. Secondly we like nice places, and this was simple and nice.
And, of course, because there is a business planning element to it, we like that too.
Compatibility with 75 Hard
I suppose we should address this. If you eat the whole baguette, it probably violates your 75 Hard diet, which is not carb-friendly. But if you eat a slice or two on a charcuterie board, it is not unreasonable.
We know for sure that your chocolate cake cruise around Madison will have to wait until Day 76. Part of having discipline is knowing where you can get nice bread and chocolate cake and not doing so until it is time. We will stop in again to see if we can get something besides the last baguette in Patisserie on Main.
Incremental Niceness
We have to talk about this for a minute. The Patisserie on Main storefront is in one of the historic buildings downtown that used to hold a wig store, among other things. We usually read the historical plaque that is on the front, we would guess that this row of buildings was constructed between 1910 and 1920, based on what we know. That is important to the story.
The idea is to go in and have counter service, and we would imagine that you can order something nice if you call in advance. We also imagine that the very well equipped bakery in the back takes care of some of the demand of the other places in this little empire such as the Hart and Crown and the Sinclair, which are just around the corner. Pretty clever to in-source some of this production.
We like walkability. This tile work on the entry way is very interesting. This is actually a very Victorian idea, and we have run across instances of it all throughout the area. If done properly, it sets the building apart from the street from a customer experience standpoint. It also can’t really be seen unless you are on foot, unlike the Wally and the famous local hardware store. The example we like the best is in front of the tattoo parlor in Monroe but there are plenty of examples elsewhere.
We also like nice bread and someday, if and when they are not sold out, after 75 Hard is over, we will retry.
Historical Significance
So you’re saying to yourself “Nice to have them restore some of the old storefronts.”
We’re going to go out on a limb now and point out that this establishment is actually much nicer than it ever was. First of all, you do know, don’t you that the first paved road in town was the Jefferson Davis Highway, which is now Dixie Highway, along Sherman’s March. This happened in sort of the mid-1920’s.
441, which now runs through the middle of Madison, did not reach Baldwin GA until 1948.
What that means is the original street was a sea of mud any time it ever rained, which was all the time. If it didn’t rain, that red dust got everywhere. Also, the main mode of transportation in this vicinity was foot travel, and if you were prosperous or hauling something to the mill, you had a horse drawn wagon, which got into the mud.
Dealing with Mud
If you want an example of the effects of this you can go to Winder, or Rutledge for that matter, where the historical buildings are up a step from the main street level. It’s to keep the mud out of the stores.
Also, do you know what you get with horse drawn wagons? Poop and lots of it. So in addition to the mud you have some stink.
Train Stink
People also forget how much trains used to stink. A few coal-fired locomotives are still around, and one should go and stand next to one if one gets the chance. They’re enormous, dangerous, and constantly spew uncombusted coal dust.
So we can assure you any train that passed through town at the time of this original construction stunk up the place as well, along with laying a cloud of coal smoke on everything.
When the railroads converted to diesel in the 1940’s most of this went away, and when the Interstate came through in the 1960’s it was far enough away to not be disruptive.
Other unpleasantness that is not around anymore.
Oh, we should also remind you that Morgan County did not have centralized city sewers for most of its history. The city is not proud enough of this to give sewage history, so we will defer to the Morgan County Conservancy and/or some of the old timers for detail on this. Feel free to contribute to the story.
Depending on the city, most of the sewage treatment plants in the area were developed after the 1930’s but we can assure you that some of them took until the 1960’s or later when they became modernized.
What that meant was all of that human poo also had to go somewhere. Flush toilets weren’t invented until the 1860’s and not used on a widespread basis in rural Georgia until much later. Furthermore, there was, and actually still is, resistance to centralized garbage disposal. The preferred method of getting rid of garbage was either burning it, or throwing it into the backyard.
Burning Day
We actually know this ourselves. There is a burn pit behind our place as we said the other day, fossil hunters looking for relics from the 1940s onward may get their trowel and little brush and try to dig some of this up if they want.
We haven’t talked about air conditioning. The first air conditioned buildings in most of these little towns was the town movie theater, which is now an insurance office or something next to the Mad Taco.
So you can paint the scene surrounding this store if you want. A muddy, stinking, hot place, covered in dust or coal dust.
The Good Old Days is Now
That’s why we’re saying that the good old days is now. We have enough social cohesion to expect some central authority to provide electricity, natural gas, and water, and whisk away our poo with a push of a lever.
If something smells or sounds annoying, it is very temporary.
It’s cool in the summer, and warm in the winter. Quite livable. And, if you step into the street, to get into your air conditioned car, you are unlikely to get muddy. The original building was never this nice or pleasant.
Nowadays we have places like the Patisserie on Main. We’re living in a golden era.
The Little Southern Town Business Plan
We are students of this as well, as you know. The following is the Preston business plan, to the extent we can deduce it.
- Buy buildings in a little southern town. Cheaper than Atlanta.
- Add value to the buildings and community, and make a nice downtown bubble.
- Run various businesses yourself. In this case it is a little restaurant empire. Use synergies and common facilities if possible.
- Look for side income. Rent out the second floor as walkable apartments.
- If you experience resistance, deal with it constructively.
- When more opportunities happen, use the resulting cash flow to reinvest in other projects
- “Bro Down” as the South Park kids would say.
We talked about this at length in the previous post we linked below. This wouldn’t have worked just anywhere. The local area has to be prosperous and sophisticated enough to enjoy a fancy baguette, rather than Wonder Bread.
Also, there has to be cooperation from the locals and regulation people to get the whole thing to work as a unit. Naysayers are everywhere. They forgot how nasty it was originally.
Getting on the Right Side of the Transaction
Preston is on the other side of the transaction from the normal wig store or nail salon which goes broke in a year, and is not being the indifferent landlord who never puts money into the place. What he is doing is showing commitment, and this is helping everybody.
It has also spurred a little boomlet of fixing up some of the old homes in the area as well, and that puts people to work too.
The fellow Dan that we bumped into in Greensboro is trying to do the same thing, but he is leasing the spaces out selectively for niceness, like the Lake and Local, so his strategy is slightly different. Greene County is not quite as prosperous yet, but there are prospects.
Why This Appeals To Us
It reminds us of us. Take an old farmhouse, and through persistence, turn it into something nicer. Become a little economic engine. Have people want to be us. It isn’t an easy strategy, and we admire anyone who can do this on a big scale.
Our abundance is still unmanicured, but we are not finished yet either.
Be there in the square.
PS: We’ve driven around in all of the little towns of the area, and have a lot to say about niceness, and progress in general, and if you want further wisdom on this topic, feel free to click our book link.
Links and References
Hard to believe that ugly front of the house with a yellow door and no huge southern front porch is the same place, as the beautiful Firefly bed and breakfast!