Bert's Brittle — Seven Winds Kitchen

What can be better than fudge: peanut butter, chocolate, or pecan? Nothing, I thought, taking my first tastes in the Seven Winds Kitchen.

Being a country girl myself, I wasn’t the least bit surprised to find a thriving enterprise in what appeared to be a run-of-the-mill farmhouse, next to a metal sided store that could pass for most people’s storage facility. It was a bit of a shock, however, to the city friends I was with when we visited Seven Winds Kitchen outside Logan, Alabama.

Jane Gammon and Francis Scruggs are sisters, who’ve taken a family hand-me-down recipe for peanut brittle, done a little tinkering, and started up their own business marketing and developing sweet treats of every nature. Jane said, “Mother (Berta Gammon) began to make candy for everybody,” from a recipe she received from another family member back in the 1940s, so the brittle had been tested by hundreds of friends and relatives before Jane and Francis opened shop in 1994.

But for me, there’s more than a museum full of incredible treasures  here–for me, there’s the ultimate love story, one that lasted for close to 65 years. Ott and Evelyn married in 1937, when Evelyn was just 17, to her bridegroom’s 26. Hard work was in the cards for both of them, especially once they became owners of the Palomino Restaurant and Motel.

Once they’d gained experience in the industry, Ott and Evelyn expanded their ventures by building a Holiday Inn, which consistently ranked in the top ten Holiday Inns world-wide, a huge accomplishment earned by a keen business sense and plenty of hands-on work.

Ott  became active politically, helping develop the local economy, and was instrumental in Governor George Wallace’s decision to establish the George C. Wallace State Trade School of Cullman County in Hanceville.

Over the years, Ott and Evelyn purchased many unique pieces, often storing them in unused hotel rooms until their retirement in the early 1980s. Then, the couple, still as much in love as ever, travelled extensively, building Evelyn’s collection even more.

Since horses figure in my own history, I was fascinated to learn how important horses had always been to both Ott and Evelyn–indeed, their Tennessee Walker, Ebony’s Leading Lady, a 1965 World Champion, inspired one of the largest known collections of horse sculptures in existence (1260 pieces) today.

The museum contains pieces from all over the world, dating as far back as the 1600s, making them very rare, especially in North American collections. Another irreplaceable treasure that really caught my fancy was the Dresdan china pieces from pre World War II, since Dresdan was destroyed during the war.

Whatever dreams Ott and Evelyn had when they said their wedding vows over seventy years ago have surely been fulfilled. Walking through the museum I wished the treasures these two collected could tell me where they’d been, and how they came to mean so much to Evelyn. Luckily, Evelyn has shared their legacy with the world by establishing the Evelyn Burrow Museum.

If you visit:

Evelyn Burrow Museum
Contact: Donnie Wilson, Museum Director
1315 County Road 222
Telephone: (256) 734-0693
Web Site: Cullman Museum
Email: Donny.Wilson@WallaceState.edu

Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourism
www.northalabama.org/
25062 North Street
P.O. Box 1075
Mooresville, AL 35649
Phone Number: 1-800-648-5381
E-Mail Address info@alabamamountainlakes.org