Months after being slated for demolition, the city of Smyrna and the Coalition to Save Aunt Fanny’s Cabin remain divided on whether the building is needed to honor the woman it is named after.
Coalition member Maryline Blackburn said Tuesday that the cabin, all that remains of the former restaurant, is important to accurately honor Williams’ legacy.
But the dilapidated structure is not included in plans for a city memorial honoring Williams, a point reinforced by Councilman Tim Gould during a City Council meeting Monday. Gould leads a committee of residents, pastors and other city leaders who are discussing how to focus on Williams’ accomplishments in the community and put distance between Williams and the cabin.
“Our goal is to honor Fanny Williams in a way that’s suitable with likely a physical memorial but more likely with some type of living program that will amplify her accomplishments, “ Gould said, adding that the memorial will be used as teaching tool for local students.
Aunt Fanny’s Cabin closed in 1992 but has been criticized for presenting stereotypes of Black people. The servers were Black boys who wore wooden menu boards around their necks. Framed slave advertisements reportedly decorated the walls.
The restaurant became known for its Southern cooking, often using Williams’ recipes, after opening in the 1940s. Williams was a longtime servant of the Campbell family who were original owners of the establishment and among the first settlers in Smyrna. In addition to providing her recipes, she’s remembered for telling stories while sitting in a rocking chair on the cabin porch.
In her personal life, Williams was a civil rights activist who spoke out against the Ku Klux Klan and helped to raise money to build the state’s first all-Black hospital in Marietta, as well as Atlanta’s Wheat Street Baptist Church where she was a member. She died in 1949.
Smyrna is offering the cabin for free, but the bidder must pay the expense of moving the condemned building located at 2875 Atlanta Road.
The deadline for proposals is March 16. The city did not say whether bids have been submitted but spokeswoman Jennifer Bennett said bids are often submitted on the deadline date. If no bids are submitted, Smyrna plans to demolish the cabin structure.
During public comment at Monday’s meeting Blackburn suggested that the cabin be preserved and used as a tool for reconciliation and racial harmony. She invited the public to email saveauntfannyscabin@gmail.com for a link to virtual presentations on Williams held Thursdays at 6:30 p.m.
Some residents say the cabin was a sharecropper’s home before becoming a public eatery. During Monday’s meeting commenter Pat Burns expressed her wish to save the building by standing in silence for most of the three minutes allotted her to speak to City Council from the podium.
“I stand in support of Fanny Williams. I stand with the sharecroppers cabin,” Burns said before going silent.
Christa Evans Heath told the AJC that she worked at Aunt Fanny’s Cabin in the 1980s and would like to see a memorial that showcases Williams and the life of tenant farmers.
“The cabin (can) provide children and adults a glimpse into how (sharecroppers) lived,” Evans Heath said via email. “It also can show how Fanny Williams was able to use ... her presence at the restaurant ... to improve the rights and services of Blacks at the time.”
