By Gary Lee Stuber
Judy Carr thinks she is finally living the dream. Judy recently purchased Ramsey’s Dairy Bar at Bickmore and has reopened it as Cool Carr’s Dairy Bar. It’s kind of a throwback to the older curbside restaurants of her youth. It was a way perhaps of bringing full circle to her younger life when she worked at Toot “N Tell ‘Emon Elk River road close to the Elkview Drive In Theater in the early 1970’s. She worked for 90 cents an hour as a 14 year old, and carried many trays of food out to cars in those days. Back then the curbside diners worked all winter. Many nights she came home with her jeans frozen stiff from the knees down from trotting through snow.
“My dad worked in the oil fields,” Judy says of her Kanawha County origins, “And my mom stayed home and raised twelve children.” Her father’s first wife died giving birth, and left him with four children before he married her mother. They had eight of their own. “Mom worked the garden and took care of kids at home while dad worked away in the oil fields. She never worked outside of the home until my little brother graduated high school and then she went to work for the governor’s mansion as a janitor down at the state capitol.”
In the grand scheme of things she was child number eleven of the twelve.
“Bear in mind, the restaurant was just down the road from the Elk River Drive-In Theater, and while I only made 90 cents an hour, I also worked for tips. Many would stop on Friday and Saturday night and order food and drinks and all their food to take to the drive-in.” She giggles as she recalls, “I would get a $100 dollars a night in tips on Friday and Saturday night.” That was the early 1970’s when most laborers were barely making $2.50 an hour.
Judy worked her way through school and college and went to work at CAMC at the age of 16 working general labor, where she met Dr. David Seidler, the Director of Emergency Medicine who guided her career at CAMC.
“He took me under his wing, let me take advantage of every educational opportunity and I worked emergency medicine almost 40 years. When he retired, I retired.” Her retirement in 2015 she says was a good thing. “To start out in medicine where I began and watch it evolve into what it became. Well. It is nothing like it was.”
Judy lived in Pinch for more than thirty years. And from the late 1990’s up to about 2007 she cared for both her parents until they passed. At that point she was able to explore the possibility of moving after her retirement.
Judy became a Clay County resident in 2016. She had been looking for a piece of property for her and her friends who all were living close together in campers when she found a beautiful piece of property just at the top of Beechy Hill in Elkhurst. It was level, and overlooked the very beautiful Elk River from the top of the mountain. She bought the property in 2015 and built a beautiful log home up there in 2017. It is nearly visible from Hartland to well past Elkhurst on Route 5 on the other side of the river. The multiple-level home is even more impressive up close. “My original intention was just to level it all out and build a base for camper homes like mine, but after I saw that view, I built me a home. “
Since 2017 she has been trying to establish a park for long term camper homes on the property. “I met with resistance almost immediately,” She said, “And when the rail trail looked like they were going to block motor vehicles, I wanted to give up.” While there are still elements within the county that fights her on this, the State of West Virginia DOH purchased and opened the trail from Hartland to Clendenin for dual use, allowing both trail and other transportation like bikes, horses, hikers and motored traffic. Judy says, “I would love the support of the Clay County Development Board, the Clay County Commission and the Department of Highways and they should be encouraged to promote this Clay County opportunity for prosperity.”
And while she has not given up on her camper lot project, her baby is now Cool Carr’s Diary Bar. Since its unannounced opening a few weeks ago it has been busy, at times seemingly overwhelmed. Even with Manager Jane Brown, and employees Kathryn Wright, Jenna Fowler, and Tatuana Thacker, it stays busy from the moment the doors open to their closing. This just shows the need for this restaurant in the county. Otherwise the closest place to get ice cream cones and custom milk shakes is Clendenin in Kanawha County. They don’t just serve ice cream, but a whole plethora of comfort food.
“We tried to keep almost everything that Ramsey’s offered.” Judy says, proudly. They even kept a local favorite: the smashed potato (Philly beef or chicken). In addition to sandwiches and fries, onion rings, mushrooms, cheese sticks and more, there are meals: wings, tenders, salads, baked potatoes and even beans and cornbread. All the comforts of home, right?
There are plans to add special events on the roster. There will be a Memorial Day event at the site with outdoor cooking and Gospel Music. And because the man who sold her this business was fond of cars, there will be an actual Car Event at Cool Carr’s Dairy Bar in his honor this summer. So watch for news.
Cool Carr’s Dairy Bar is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day, and food can be ordered for pickup by calling 304-587-3020. But, show up and dine in, instead. The atmosphere is amazing.
