The Squirrel Nest Restaurant
The rumor is that some poor lost starving deer hunter treed this place and found food and lodging, but I am not sure that this tale is really true. While spending a few days in the Guntersville, Alabama area and preaching nightly at the Grant congregation my wife and I were invited by good friends to have breakfast with them at The Squirrel Nest Restaurant. This ‘out of the way’ eating and lodging place is located about half way between Guntersville and Scottsboro just off of highway 79 which runs along side the beautiful Tennessee River . You take a left off of the main highway when heading north and began to ascend Gunters Mountain . When you are about one-third up the mountain you come to this sign: THE SQUIRREL NEST RESTAURANT. It is then that you turn sharply to the right.
All you can see momentarily is the hood of your car and you begin to wonder what is below and ahead of you. Of course you hope that there is road in front of your vehicle. My wife who is from the flat country of central Florida was about to stand up while we were sitting in the back seat of our friend’s automobile so she could prayerfully see a road. The descent was rather steep and then you made a sharp turn to the right and there you were in the parking area of the restaurant. This establishment is well hidden like unto the moonshine stills that one might find in the mountains of north Georgia where I was reared. But it is amazing that so many ‘townies’ invade this mountainous area seeking some delicious vittles.
That Tuesday morning, Martin and Tootie Anderson, Jack and Olivia Andrews, along with my lovely wife Virginia, we sat down to a breakfast that was fit for a king. I purposely mention a king because I don’t believe a delicate queen could have eaten this mountain size breakfast. I ordered the breakfast platter that consisted of tenderloin, eggs, gravy, biscuit and jelly. The coffee was hot and the fellowship was wonderful. The décor was fitting for the location of the building that was built on the side of the mountain and surrounded by beautiful and tall hardwood trees. I could almost hear a tom turkey gobbling and a-drumming. 
This was my first time to eat in a squirrel nest but you can bet the next time that I am in that neck of the woods I will make my way upside Gunters Mountain looking for a breakfast that will make you feel glad that you are alive. I gave up squirrel hunting over 35 years ago when I became addicted to deer and turkey hunting but this is one squirrel nest that I will go looking for and I will even pay to eat there. 
All you can see momentarily is the hood of your car and you begin to wonder what is below and ahead of you. Of course you hope that there is road in front of your vehicle. My wife who is from the flat country of central Florida was about to stand up while we were sitting in the back seat of our friend’s automobile so she could prayerfully see a road. The descent was rather steep and then you made a sharp turn to the right and there you were in the parking area of the restaurant. This establishment is well hidden like unto the moonshine stills that one might find in the mountains of north Georgia where I was reared. But it is amazing that so many ‘townies’ invade this mountainous area seeking some delicious vittles.That Tuesday morning, Martin and Tootie Anderson, Jack and Olivia Andrews, along with my lovely wife Virginia, we sat down to a breakfast that was fit for a king. I purposely mention a king because I don’t believe a delicate queen could have eaten this mountain size breakfast. I ordered the breakfast platter that consisted of tenderloin, eggs, gravy, biscuit and jelly. The coffee was hot and the fellowship was wonderful. The décor was fitting for the location of the building that was built on the side of the mountain and surrounded by beautiful and tall hardwood trees. I could almost hear a tom turkey gobbling and a-drumming. This was my first time to eat in a squirrel nest but you can bet the next time that I am in that neck of the woods I will make my way upside Gunters Mountain looking for a breakfast that will make you feel glad that you are alive. I gave up squirrel hunting over 35 years ago when I became addicted to deer and turkey hunting but this is one squirrel nest that I will go looking for and I will even pay to eat there. 
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