Wolfskill describes herself as a mortgaged widow. After a car accident, her husband’s death, or a pandemic that briefly decimated the restaurant sector, she has always gone back to work. She began working at Cherokee Rose on the first day of operations in 2021. Wolfskill views the restaurant as her home and her coworkers as her family. She is childless. Because she has nowhere else to go, she occasionally spends holidays with the owner and his family or eats here on her days off.
Another server, Steve Swimmer, says, “I would do anything for her.”
For this reason, when Wolfskill describes the incident to a reporter, she suppresses her tears. She seemed to have wounded something she loved very much.
A restaurant is a delicate object that can be harmed by a variety of external factors.
Shifting preferences.
growing expenses.
And sometimes the harsh winds of politics.
Thomas Lake is credited.
Thomas Lake is credited.
A picture goes on Facebook, and controversy follows
An statement was broadcast over the intercom at Riverland Elementary School in Fort Lauderdale one day in 1963. The age of Wolfskill was ten. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy had just occurred.
Her mother was crying when she returned home, some five years later. Robert Kennedy, Kennedy’s brother and a U.S. senator at the time, had also been shot dead.
Even though Wolfskill didn’t pay much attention to the news, the Kennedy name continued to hold significance for her years later. On Monday, August 11, she was pleasantly pleased when the late senator’s namesake son, who was also the late president’s nephew, entered Cherokee Rose for an early dinner.
She believed he looked like his father.
Definitely a Kennedy.
He gave her a handshake.
According to Wolfskill, the entourage of U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. consisted of roughly seven individuals. Kennedy and two aides picked Table 11, which is close to a low stage where bands occasionally perform, while Secret Service personnel sat across the room. Kennedy requested a reference from Wolfskill. According to Wolfskill, her two favorite dishes were prime rib and filet.
Along with jalapeño corn pudding and collard greens, he ordered the prime rib.
Wolfskill heard bits of discussion as she worked. Kennedy was discussing the shooting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with a woman who was using a laptop computer. According to Wolfskill, she understood why Kennedy was in the area at that point.
Thanks to AP
Thanks to AP
Wolfskill was somewhat aware of the events that transpired on August 8, when a shooter shot over 500 rounds into the CDC headquarters in Atlanta, and DeKalb County Police Officer David Rosedied attempted to stop him.
Kennedy thanked Wolfskill, finished his dinner, and complimented him on the food. Wolfskill requested if he might be featured in a photo. Kennedy concurred. He stood at the bar and wrapped her shoulder with his left arm. They both grinned.
Wolfskill shared the photo on Facebook, figuring it would help promote the eatery. After her duty was over, she left for home.
She got a call from a buddy the following morning.
She claims the friend informed her that your photo has gone viral. You may want to purchase security.
Wolfskill was about to learn that Kennedy has many opponents in metro Atlanta, particularly in DeKalb County, which is deep blue. Kennedy is a Republican president who pushes boundaries. He has irritated CDC staff members so frequently that some of them hold him accountable for contributing to the circumstances that resulted in the shooting.
A coworker informed Wolfskill that someone had cursed her out over the phone when she arrived at work the following day. Wolfskill removed the photo from Facebook.
However, the harm had already been done. Anger-filled emails, voicemails, and phone calls increased. The idea of a boycott was discussed. Numerous brand-new one-star ratings were also posted online.
Someone posted on Google, “I hope you are out of business for serving that piece of trash, RFK.” and I pray everyone contracts fatal illnesses and passes away!
Someone phoned the restaurant to call her a fascist
Eight days after the Kennedy visit, the bartender is carrying a blowtorch Tuesday at Cherokee Rose. Elysium is a smoked drink that she is preparing. The plates clatter faintly as Wolfskill passes with them in those quivering hands.
Jonathan Hartnett, proprietor of the restaurant, is seated in a chair close to the entrance. The door’s handle is fashioned from a deer’s antler.
Hartnett asserts that no matter what, every individual entering the building will receive the same level of treatment.
Georgia’s state flower, a huge white blossom with a golden center and a brief flowering season, is the inspiration behind the restaurant’s name. According to Georgia College & State University’s Cherokee Rose page, under ideal circumstances, the plant will bloom again in the fall.
When Hartnett decided to open a posh restaurant in Stone Mountain hamlet, he said that many people had their doubts. However, it has amassed a devoted and varied fan base. Cherokee Rose makes it difficult to distinguish between a fancy steakhouse and a BBQ joint. Swimmer, who works as a salesman during the day and serves Cherokee Rose at night, claims that he was raised in Stone Mountain and has never seen a restaurant this excellent in this community. The menu features Ann Wolfskill’s first name next to a chocolate pecan pie that contains the handmade coffee liqueur she sends to friends throughout the holiday season.
Thomas Lake is credited.
Thomas Lake is credited.
“Yes,” Hartnett replies. In order to accuse Ann of fascism, someone did phone the restaurant and request to speak with her.
However, he captured images of two other individuals holding signs that read, “WE LOVE CHEROKEE ROSE,” while they stood on the corner.
Some customers made it a point to visit and/or publish brand-new, five-star reviews, while others chose to stay away and possibly advised friends to do the same. It stabilized. Since the incident, Hartnett says the numbers have remained consistent.
Someone switches the TV channels above the bar at 7:30 p.m. The White Sox are behind the Braves 2-0. A variety of patrons can be found in the dining room. Two males in smart clothes. A ball-cap-wearing young man. A woman with a sleeve of tattoos. It has been raining outside for some time, but it has now ceased.
After checking on her tables, Wolfskill takes a brief rest. She will be here past midnight. A reporter asks if there is a lesson to be learned from this whole episode.
Lessons are, she says, I m never gonna post a political figure picture the rest of my life.
She resumes her work. Dusk is visible through the front windows. Cars pass on Main Street. The Braves lose the lead, gain it back, lose it again. They will eventually come back for an astonishing 11-10 victory. Wolfskill refills a water glass. It glows in the candlelight.
She has lost count of all her bosses of the last 58 years. Were there 30? Maybe 40? Regardless, she says, Hartnett is the best she ever had. She kept apologizing, and he kept telling her she d done nothing wrong, and they both kept working in a place they loved.
For an outside observer, one memory keeps coming back. A scene from the dinner rush of that Tuesday night. The bartender sets a bottle on a high shelf, a clear glass bottle of red-gold liquid, and for one long moment the bottle wavers, high above the floor, as if it might fall and shatter.
But it settles down and does not fall.
