Charlotte's

The uppermost city (town) in Harlan County is the City of Cumberland. It is really in the middle of Appalachia and coal country. The town is also in the middle of almost no where. I don't get cell phone service, and I don't get wireless service there. There isn't a gym, but there is satellite TV. The one little bright spot of sunshine in dining arena in Cumberland is Charlotte's Restaurant.


I wouldn't say that Charlotte's is great because it doesn't serve homemade pies, rather it has a bunch of single packages of Sara Lee pies. Much of the food is food service stuff, but at least it is not fast food. The lack of fresh food is not just Charlotte's problem, it is a problem for the county itself. The region is mountainous, and I don't see much of the area being used for farm land, rather it is used for coal mining. I don't see many small plot farming in the residential areas either. There is also the Walmart effect going on in this county, where many people, on fixed incomes, rely on Walmart as their single source for inexpensive food and goods. It almost seems like this area has forgotten self-reliance, and it is all about the Walmart to provide. The standard welfare food subsidy is $21 per week, or $3 per day. Even when Walmart undercuts others by $0.01 or more per item, it still is expensive to eat on food from Walmart only. There are a lot of people in Harlan County that live this way, and quite possibly feel stuck with no choice, but to shop at Walmart.


Anyway, about Charlotte's, I ordered a breakfast plate for my lunch. That was a wise thing to do. The hashbrowns are the kind I like, and if I were to cook them, I would leave them in the pan for a long time to get crispy. I got eggs over medium, bacon and wheat toast to go with the hashbrowns. My breakfast for lunch was good.