Mary’s Old-Fashioned Pit BBQ, Mt. Zion Baptist Church, R&R Liquor Store

“Good Jelly” Jones Place is gone, but if you’ve been thinking about BBQ since the start of the tour—well then, welcome to Mary’s Old-Fashioned Pit Bar-B-Que! This story begins in 1955, when Willis M. Childress opened Shakey’s Barbecue on the northeast corner of 12th Avenue. After Childress died in 1959, his son Willis “Stoop” Childress, Jr. changed the name to Stoop’s Drive-In and made his wife, Mary Childress, a co-owner. Years later, Mary took full control of the drive-in and changed the name to reflect her ownership—Mary’s Old-Fashioned Pit Bar-B-Que. After the interstate forced the business to close on 12th Avenue, it moved here to 1106 Jefferson Street in the 1960s. 

After more than 30 years serving up BBQ and delicious sides, Mary retired in 1998, but the business stayed in the family. She sold the restaurant to Clark E. Fizer, Sr. who was married to Katresa Thompson—Mary’s granddaughter! Katresa took full ownership after Clark’s death in 2010. After a long history of family ownership, federal interstate displacement, gentrification, tornadoes, and pandemics, Mary’s Old-Fashioned Pit Bar-B-Que stands as a testament to entrepreneurship of African American women. It also still serves the best late-night ribs and pork shoulder sandwiches on Jefferson Street.

Next door find one of the oldest organized Black churches in the city—Mt. Zion Baptist Church. Founded in 1866 with 175 members, Mt. Zion’s first pastor was the Reverend Jordan Bransford. Construction on this Romanesque Revival sanctuary began in 1904, and a year later, this beautiful building opened its doors under the leadership of the Reverend Sandy A. Mattheus. Ten pastors have led the Mt. Zion congregation since the doors of this sanctuary opened. In 1960, the Reverend Maynard P. Turner became the pastor. He was also the president of today’s American Baptist College located further north. Turner also headed Nashville’s NAACP chapter for a time. In 1980, Mt. Zion was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Since 1992, Bishop Joseph W. Walker, III has led the Mt. Zion congregation, which now operates in three locations, as well as online, and has over 30,000 members.

Now look across the street to find R&R Liquor Store, a business with more than 60 years of history. The first business in this location was a white-owned grocery store, which operated in the early 1900s. Then Rhoda Francis, a formidable woman and African American entrepreneur, took over. In the early 1940s, she transformed the wooden-framed storefront from a grocery store to an ice cream parlor and then, in 1945, it became a liquor store. In 1951, Francis bequeathed the store to her daughter, Ada Mae Vaughn. Vaughn sold the business to John R. Christman and Robert Davis, Jr. who moved R&R Liquor from Jo Johnston to Jefferson Street in 1955. R&R stands today as one of the oldest Black-owned businesses in Nashville. In fact, it is one of only two businesses featured in the Green Book that’s still in operation. The Green Book was an annual publication that guided African Americans to safe places to eat, sleep, and shop during an era of Jim Crow segregation and racial violence. In 2019, the Christman family was awarded the Green Book Legacy Award from the Nashville Minority Business Center.

Continue down Jefferson Street in the same direction. Turn LEFT on 14th Ave and either street park or take a RIGHT on Meharry Blvd. Walk back to the corner of 14th and Jefferson to view the Frierson Building and the NAACP offices.