Get nostalgic at North Carolina’s old-fashioned soda fountains

Old-fashioned soda fountains are a thing of the past, but some North Carolina establishments are still operating well into the new millennium. 

When news broke in February 2024 that Ashworth Drugs in Cary would shut its doors for good, area residents were shocked to lose a community staple that had been around longer than many of them. 

Having originally opened in 1957, when Cary had just about 2,000 residents, the pharmacy and all-purpose store had been open for 67 years when it closed earlier this year—with Cary’s population closer to 182,000. 

Ashworth Drugs wasn’t just a convenient spot to pick up prescriptions that neighbors were losing; it was a piece of American history. It was home to one of North Carolina’s last remaining soda fountains. 

If you grew up on this side of Y2K or even in the latter part of the 20th century, you likely relate the term “soda fountain” to one of those self-serve soda machines you’ll find at a fast food restaurant. However, for generations of folks who lived from the early 20th century into the 1960s, the soda fountain was a community gathering space. 

Manned by a “soda jerk” behind the counter who would serve up different flavors of soda, ice cream soda and other treats, soda fountains could be found in pharmacies, ice cream parlors, candy stores, dime stores, department stores, milk bars, and train stations.

Having peaked in popularity in the 1940s and ’50s, these nostalgic venues have since become few and far between. But if you know where to look, you can still find a few operating in the tradition of mid-century America. Here are five that we found spread across North Carolina. 

1. Walker’s Soda Fountain

175 N Main St, Mt Airy

Considering that Mayberry is the town that best represents that small-town Americana vibe in many people’s minds, let’s start in the town that Mayberry was modeled after, Andy Griffith’s hometown: Mt. Airy. 

Still an active tourist attraction dubbed Mayberry, USA, the townsfolk are expecting visitors in search of a certain nostalgia, and in the case of Walker’s Soda Fountain, they’re more than happy to play along. Soda jerks and other servers dress the part while serving all the soda fountain staples, with menu items including old-fashioned ice cream sodas, malts, hot dogs, burgers, chips, banana splits, hot fudge cake, and strawberry sundaes.

2. The Soda Shop

104 S. Main St., Davidson

The Soda Shop was known to be a favorite of Steph Curry when he was a student at Davidson College, before he became one of the best shooters in NBA history. But the history of this little diner and ice cream shop goes much further back than that—all the way back to 1951. 

The shop is located within walking distance of that private college in a suburb that’s just a short drive up I-77 from Charlotte. Mary Potts and Murray Flemmings opened the establishment as M&M Soda Shop in 1951, serving sandwiches and five flavors of Deluxe Mooresville ice cream. Flemings passed away, but Potts continued to run the shop until retiring in 1985. Today, you can still see the original cash register that “M&M” used on display over the door. 

The shop still offers up fell menus for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, including old-fashioned shakes and sundaes like the Big O and Big L, both of which were M&M originals. 

3. The Soda Fountain

25 Haywood Street, Asheville

A historic landmark of Asheville and perhaps the entire South, The Soda Fountain is tucked into the corner of the F.W. Woolworth store. Woolworths were once the best-known retail chain where you could almost always find a soda fountain inside, and the one located on Asheville’s Haywood Street was no different. 

Established in 1938 and restored in 2001, the capacious main store area now serves as a two-story vendor market for local artists. If you walk in, go to the right, and head downstairs, you’ll find The Soda Fountain, also restored in its original location. It’s open daily and serves many of the original menu items, such as egg creams, club sandwiches, coffee, and, of course, old-fashioned ice cream sodas.

The menu pays tribute to  Geneva Tisdale, who was working at the Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro on the day in 1960 when four young black men sat down and asked to be served, kickstarting six months of sit-ins, protests, and negotiations. When Woolworth’s management was finally pressured to change its policy, they chose Tisdale and two of her co-workers to be the first African-Americans to eat at the lunch counter at which they worked, and where Tisdale would continue to work for another 30 years. 

The section of the menu that honors Tisdale is a helpful reminder that, despite all the rose-colored nostalgia, these establishments were most popular during the Jim Crow era, during which comfort was enjoyed by many at the expense of Black Americans and other marginalized groups. 

4. Smith’s Drugs of Forest City

139 E. Main Street, Forest City

Smith’s Drugs of Forest City is an independent, full-service pharmacy and soda fountain that has been locally owned and operated since 1939. The fountain serves up plenty of old-time favorites, including hand-patted hamburgers, hot dogs, sodas, milkshakes made with hand-dipped ice cream, and fried pound cake. 

The fountain also offers up a hearty breakfast that must have a hold on the people of Forest City. When a car drove into the drugstore in July 2024, entering fully into the retail section of the establishment while people were eating breakfast in the next room over, they still welcomed the driver once it was found that the entire incident was just “an unfortunate incident.” 

“The owner, John Higgins, all the staff acted very calmly, very professionally,” Troy Stanley, who was there eating at the time of the wreck, told The Daily Courier. “After it was clear that the driver was OK, everybody continued eating with their breakfast. I think even the driver stayed and had breakfast.”

5. Newton Grove Drug Co. 

305 Weeks Circle, Newton Grove

Established in 1952, Newton Grove Drug is one of the oldest pharmacies in North Carolina, and while some who pass through might think of Newton Grove as a “sleepy” eastern NC town, the folks at NGDC were operating 12 hours a day, seven days a week back when there were no other options in town for someplace to grab your prescriptions or other needs. 

Featuring 24 flavors of Hershey’s hand-dipped ice cream, PBS once called Newton Grove’s shakes the best milkshakes in the state. The fountain offers hand-dipped ice cream cones, milkshakes, sundaes, floats, homemade lemonades and orangeades, and a wide-ranging selection of candy. 

This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.