I know every Summer spent in the South, people claim to say that it seems like it was hotter than the last. In July, to escape the Florida heat, I enjoy packing the car up and heading up to North Carolina and just hope for a smidge of cool breeze in my hair. While it appears that I will get little to no relief once I'm there, western Carolina hills and mountains at least give the illusion that it is slightly cooler than the remainder of the Deep Southern regions. To break away from the mundane sound of indoor air conditioning, I decided to take an adventure out to find myself and my two children a great little ice cream shop near Shelby.
My friend, Google, pointed me in the direction of Tony's Ice Cream Company in nearby Gastonia. Not a bad trip, only 20 minutes or so "up the road a piece" as my late Papaw would say. So with air blowing full speed capacity in our car, we took a trip through the hills and found ourselves driving through downtown Gastonia. And in case you do not know where Gastonia is on the map, it is just southwest of Charlotte just off I-85.
Now Tony's is not a fancy establishment, but an old two-story masonry building with aluminum windows stretching along the first story. From the road, we could all ready see the patrons sitting inside along the windows and the parking lot full. Now mind you, it is about 4pm on a Tuesday afternoon, and we suppose that everyone else in Gastonia had the same idea we did about ice cream. As we enter in the side door adjacent to the parking lot, we are greeted by the staff behind the counter and stand in awe of the vast old school menu on the wall that goes on forever. Oh my! This place is much more than ice cream, it has a menu full of grilled items from burgers, bbq and hotdogs to Chuckwagon Steak. We told the kind lady who stood in front of the menu and kitchen that we were only interested in ice cream today, so she directed us around the L-shaped counter to place our order. How do we possibly choose from 28 different ice cream flavors? Easy, just go for the classics. For my son, one scoop of chocolate on a cone, for my daughter, it would be two scoops of strawberry. As for myself, I would leave all dieting aside and order the strawberry-banana milkshake, please.
We scope the room out and my daughter decides that she will take a booth along the windows. We join her and sit down at the bright red vinyl four-seater and formica tabletop. As we savor our Summer treats, I cannot help but to step back in time and imagine what it was like to have my Tony's ice cream in 1915 when the place first opened. Or to meet at Tony's with friends after school in the 1950's. There is something to be said about the history of the old parlor and one could sense that the regular customers were just carrying on a tradition that their grandparents and perhaps great-grandparents began in this small Carolina town.
I urge you to indulge yourself with a milkshake, cheese fries or any of the menu items if you so happen to be in the region of Gastonia. Take time out at Tony's for a scoop of history and pure ice cream delight! For more info visit www.tonysicecream.com
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