11/09/2025
FOR AN ATTRACTIVE EVENING – VISIT “THE SPOT”!
Many Montgomery County residents, especially those from Biscoe, Candor, and Star, will remember ‘The Spot’, which was a quaint juke-joint located on US Highway 220 between Candor and Biscoe. These joints were often simple, unpretentious spaces that provided an important cultural and social outlet, particularly during the first half of the 20th century in the segregated South. The Spot was owned and operated by Mrs. Pinkie Larue O'Brien Chisholm and her son Jack. But, before that, Mrs. ‘Pinkie’ Chisolm is said to have operated a similar business near her home in Star and was known discreetly as “Pinkie’s Tea Room.” According to eye-witness accounts (and some non-eye-witnesses) this tea room was a place to find food and ‘drink’, as well as some well needed companionship. Details of the closure of the tea room have been lost to time, but it is probable that Mrs. Chisolm’s business did not comply with Star Town Rules, especially the ones that dealt with houses of ill repute as well as NO BOOZE ALLOWED. By the end of World War II, Mrs. Chisolm had moved her operations down to ‘The Spot’ which was located in an old Winston-Salem Southbound Railway coach and out of town limits, and was equipped with the ever-convenient ‘false wall’ behind the diner counter. It has been said that Mrs. Chisolm was somewhat censured by many because of her business dealings, but she undoubtedly provided a service that was seen by some as needed in the community and was truly a good person at heart. Local lore records that she often gave a temporary home to girls and women who were without a place to stay, often due to domestic violence in the home of the distressed. Ultimately, is it not the more colorful citizens of Montgomery County’s past that give us identity and culture? Mrs. Chisolm (born 1896) passed away in 1972 at the age of 75 years. Her “Spot” continued to sit by the roadside until the late 1980s when it finally rotted away. Mr. S. David Carriker snapped a photo of the diner and appeared in his book “Railroading in the Carolina Sandhills” and appears in this post. If you remember The Spot, drop a comment below and tap the like button or follow us on Facebook, and please be sure to have “an attractive evening!” Good night, dear readers!
