Take a drive, try the country ham, hear the story of Lexington’s oldest place to eat

On most days, if you drive past the Jot ’em Down Store at the intersection of Russell Cave Road and Iron Works Pike, you’ll find a gathering of men (and the occasional woman) in jeans and work boots, standing around smoking, having a quick lunch from the store’s deli and engaging in friendly banter.

On this day, with black clouds looming ominously, there is no one around, and it seems vaguely disquieting – like someone gave a party and the guests forgot to show up.

I needn’t have worried. Opening the door, I found the party had just moved inside. Three men stood near the front of the store jawing congenially, while owner Robey Terrell alternated between joining in the conversation and helping customers as they drifted in.

I wandered through the small area, skirting boxes of merchandise not yet shelved which turned the narrow aisles into something of an obstacle course, and unashamedly eavesdropping on the conversation before joining in myself.

Safe to say, that in Lexington where cookie-cutter convenience stores crop up on every corner, the Jot ’em Down Store is an anachronism – a throwback to a time when the social life of a community centered on the general store. The place where townsfolk could come to pick up dry goods and household supplies, buy their groceries, get a little free medical advice and a lot of free political advice - all washed down (if the storekeep was off the clock) by some homemade corn liquor.

Terrell doesn’t offer corn liquor (beer only) or medical advice; he doesn’t carry dry goods and his grocery business is confined to a few staples and the handful of offerings served at the deli in the back of the store.

What the Jot ’em Down Store does offer is a treasured link to Lexington’s past.

Named by Lum & Abner stars

In 1933, brothers L.C. and Ed Terrell, using the family name, opened a general store. It was both the height of the Depression and the golden age of radio. In order to escape from the former, Americans turned to the latter.

The brothers Terrell were no exception. They tuned in nightly to listen to their favorite program, “The Lum ’n’ Abner Show,” chronicling the misadventures of two fictional Arkansas grocery store owners.

The Arkansas store, known as the Jot ’em Down Store for its practice of extending perpetual credit to customers short on cash, was home to a quirky group of regulars such as Grandpappy Spears, Squire Skimp, Cedric We-hunt, Snake Hogan, Mose Moots, and Mousey Gray.

The exploits of these comic characters tickled the collective funny bone of a nation desperately in need of something to laugh at, allowing “The Lum ‘n’ Abner Show” to have a 20-year run, with successful spin-offs into comic strips, movies and personal appearances.

So, you might ask – how does a country store in rural Arkansas connect to a country store in rural Kentucky? The story is one that resonates with all who love Lexington lore.

It seems that Lum and Abner weren’t quite the rubes they appeared to be. Or at least their portrayers, Chester Lauck (Lum) and Norris Goff (Abner) weren’t. In 1936, the duo arrived in Lexington, scouting for a horse they might enter in the Kentucky Derby, and visited a number of Thoroughbred farms, including several on Iron Works Pike.

Hearing of the brothers Terrell and their affinity for the “Lum and Abner Show”, Lauck and Goff paid them an unexpected visit, and the Arkansans were so impressed that on a return visit to Lexington, they bought a sign and hand-painted it. The Terrell General Store officially became the Jot ’em Down Store.

Store draws movie stars, politicians, farm workers

Quite an honor to be anointed by the original Jot ’em Down creators and the sign remained on the store front until it gradually deteriorated from adverse weather conditions.

Terrell says he can’t remember exactly when, but the sign was removed to the garage, where a tree falling through the roof split it in half, bringing an end to the visual proof of the store’s time in the limelight.

What it didn’t bring an end to was a procession of people in the limelight who have continued to make their way here.

“John Y. Brown and Andy Barr have both stopped by,” says Terrell, adding that “before he went to Frankfort, Ryan Quarles (Commissioner of Agriculture) was a regular since he grew up in the neighborhood.”

He also recalls that during the making of the movie “Dreamer,” Kurt Russell, Dakota Fanning and practically the entire crew came in for lunch or a break every day for two months.

Then there was Ashley Judd who Terrell says, stopped by a number of times, wanting a bologna and cheese sandwich from the deli’s array of cold cuts.

Today, most of Terrell’s business caters to workers from the surrounding horse farms, and is food and drink related.

“The opening of the North Park Shopping Center pretty much took away the rest of our business,” he says.

Lexington’s oldest place to eat?

In addition to sodas and snacks, he offers a small selection of deli items, which makes the Jot ’em Down Store allegedly the oldest known establishment in Lexington serving food.

“We try to keep it simple,” says Terrell, referring to deli items such as country ham (the top seller), turkey, roast beef, chicken, pulled pork and cheeseburgers.

With such an illustrious past, what does the future hold for the Jot ’em Down Store?

“It’s been a couple of years of ups and downs,” Terrell admits, allowing that in 2019, he had his best year since taking over from his father in 1998, only to be followed by the start of the COVID outbreak in 2020.

“We were deemed an essential business and allowed to stay open,” he says, “but no one could come in. So, for that year we served to-go food from the deli and even managed to attract people from other parts of the city who had not previously been customers.”

While he said 2021 proved a little better, 2022 has brought its own set of problems.

“This year, we’ve been hampered by supply chain issues, rising gas prices, inflation, and continued problems of unemployment in the horse industry,” he continues.

For now, Terrell says he’s hanging in there, with Fridays being his biggest day for business, and hopes that the future brings better times.

We should all hope so. Lexington would be the poorer for losing this important part of its history and heritage.

Jot ’em Down Store

Where: 3299 Russell Cave Rd.

Hours: 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday

Call: 859-523-0103

Online: Facebook.com/jotemdownstore