PLAINS, Ga. - Fridays were special for Bonita Hightower.
At her little restaurant in the middle of Plains, that’s the day orders would come from the town’s most celebrated couple.
Baked catfish and vegetables for Rosalynn Carter.
Fried catfish for President Jimmy Carter.
It has been a while since Hightower sent catfish a mile down the road to the Carter compound. The former president’s deteriorating health over the last few months has obviously limited his consumption of fried catfish, even Hightower’s, which is seasoned to perfection.
On Saturday, the Carter family announced that the 98-year-old former president had entered home hospice and would be spending his final days at his residence surrounded by his family. The announcement has created a somber mood in town as throngs of media have descended, filling the few shops and restaurants, including Bonita’s Restaurant.
The restaurant sits across the tracks from more familiar Plains locations. It is said to be the city’s only Black-owned business.
“I believe it was part of my calling because I never dreamed of owning anything in Plains. I just wanted people to enjoy my cooking,” Hightower said. “Now, who would ever think that I would land in Plains and literally be feeding the longest-living president of these United States?”
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Roughly 60% of Plains’ population of about 575 people is Black.
Carter’s personal narrative is steeped in Black culture. He has written extensively about growing up on his farm in Archery surrounded by Black families, whose children were his playmates. About 100 yards from his old family homestead, which is part of the National Park Service, is the home of Jack and Rachel Clark, the Black family that played such an instrumental role in Carter’s young development.
A mile away, at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Carter helped appoint Tony Lowden as the first Black pastor in 2019.
“Although we saw so much of him, I never looked at him like a regular old man in town,” said Samaiya Mobley, a 31-year-old nursing student who still lives in Plains. “I look at him as a grandfather, because he helped so many of us in the community.”
Before she died, Mobley’s grandmother was able to refurbish her home through a grant that Carter helped secure. Mobley added that her family “owns half of Highway 308.”
Because Plains doesn’t have a grocery store, Mobley’s grandfather, Ed Ross, sets up shop daily outside of the Dollar General to sell produce from his land, like plums and collards, out of the back of his truck.
At her restaurant, Hightower never stops talking, despite having a sign above her cash register reading: “Mrs. Hightower is available to socialize ONLY AFTER 11:30 Wednesday-Fridays. Thank you.”
“I don’t have time to talk,” she said. “I am cooking.”
Yet, she greets every customer and carefully talks them through their order. She pushed the 32-ounce cup of sweet tea hard.
Occasionally, her grandchildren take orders at the counter, but Hightower cooks every meal personally – from the thick pork chops to the handcrafted hamburgers.
Mobley, who stopped by to get a burger, complained to Hightower that she was making her gain weight.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Hightower laughed.
Everyone who walked in wants to talk about President Carter.
“Have you heard anything?”
“I ain’t never seen so many news trucks.”
Everyone has a story about Carter.
“To us, this is very emotional, because we are so used to him, and it has been sad not seeing him out,” said Mobley. The last time for Mobley was at the president and First Lady’s 75th wedding anniversary party.
But that is not her fondest memory.
Several years ago, she got a knock on her door. It was Jimmy Carter.
As he was prone to do, Carter was just hanging around the neighborhood. Knocking on doors and saying hello to the Plains folk.
Mobley seized on the opportunity and broke out in song – “Amazing Grace.”
She remembers when she was growing up, the Carters helped sponsor an annual dinner and dance for the local Boys & Girls Club, mostly comprised of Black students.
As a child, Mobley sang at the event every year.
When she finished singing for Carter in her doorway, she saw the former president smiling at her.
“I remember you singing at (the Boys & Girls Club events),” Carter told her.
“I don’t know how he still remembered that little Black girl,” Mobley said.
Waiting for her burger, Mobley hums an Aretha Franklin song. Classic soul music from the 1960s and 1970s drifts through the speakers of the three-room restaurant, modestly decorated with hand-painted ottomans. The most prominent piece of art on the wall is a painting of Barry White, eliminating any doubt that this is Plains’ only soul food joint.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Hightower and her husband, Willie, opened the spot on Feb. 15, 2020, just a few weeks after the pandemic hit. It hasn’t been easy. Sometimes business is slow – especially compared to the spots across the street and across the tracks. At one point during the heart of the pandemic, they shut down for about a month.
“I had to dig deep, breath and keep going back out there,” Hightower said. “When you are fighting against your old self saying quit, you have to dig deep in what you believe.”
Now, with the media influx in town, business is good. “Business is skyrocketing,” she continued, “and it is something I always wanted, but not at the cost of President Carter.”
Because she opened during the pandemic, the Carters have never actually visited Bonita’s, and Hightower is not sure how they learned about her cooking.
“But it is mind-blowing, and I don’t take it lightly,” Hightower said. “I take it as a divine hookup and a divine honor.”
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