Staff Review
The Steel Magnolias of Mentone
Ellen Vanuga
October 2008

Let’s say I have five favorite aunts. One has a farm with a vintage barn full of glossy, happy horses and a tack room full of English, western and plantation saddles. One has the organizational skills of a five-star general. Two know the local trails and love to ride. All of them are superb cooks with generous hearts and genuine, honest souls. This ride on Lookout Mountain in northeast Alabama feels like going home to stay with those five favorite aunts.

Based in a postcard perfect hometown, Mentone, Alabama, everyone from the postmistress to the guys at the coffee shop are interested in knowing how the ride is going and are visibly proud of their part in its success. I can joke about how it’s because they’re all related, because they joke about it too. I didn’t think the South still existed like this: big front porches with rockers and sleeping dogs, “dry counties,” and southern drawls so pronounced I thought I was in the movies; “Fried Green Tomatoes” for instance. In fact, my second choice of names for this ride was the Steel Magnolias Ride, thanks to the group of women --with Susan in charge-- who make it happen.

It is easy to get to Mentone; from either Atlanta or Chattanooga there is a shuttle service or you can rent a car and drive yourself. There’s not much to the town itself; a little grocery store, gas station, two glorious old hotels from the 20’s (the Mentone Springs Hotel in particular would be a fun place to spend another night or two). Riders stay in a lodge and guest cabins owned by a former antique dealer who used his inventory to furnish the rooms. It is located in the woods just a mile from the horse farm. Meals are prepared in the kitchen of the main house, and served in the spacious dining room.

These women can cook, and clearly love doing it. There is a breakfast spread every morning: fresh fruit, juice, and cereal, as well as made to order eggs, biscuits and gravy or French toast. And yes, for the benefit of taste-testing, there were grits and instructions about what to do with them. We packed sandwiches, homemade cookies and an apple in our saddlebags. Dinners were feasts featuring produce from their own gardens, corn from the neighbor’s place, home canned tomato sauce, homemade pickles and Grandma so and so’s applebutter. If you’re thinking just fried chicken, think again. My favorite was pork chops with nut and spinach stuffing and wrapped in phyllo pastry. Just in case it wasn’t Southern enough, one evening three local musicians (bass, guitar, banjo) showed up to play bluegrass music on the porch.

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Nancy’s horses are obedient and uncomplicated. They work under either English or Western saddles, and there are even a couple of plantation saddles if you want to give that a try. The horses are used for children’s camps during the summer, and I had some reservations about that, envisioning bad-tempered, hard-mouthed mounts. That is certainly not the case, and after meeting Nancy, a quintessential no-nonsense horsewoman, I understood why.

Except for the first day when we rode from the farm, we trailered 15-25 minutes to the trailheads. The trails are on private and public land, sometimes narrow, sometimes sandy lanes. The footing is safe and fairly easy, through woods of oak, maple, pine, and hickory. When I was there in early October, the fall colors were just starting and almost overnight we watched the maple turning brilliant red. I’d like to see it in the spring when the azalea, mountain laurel, rhododendron, dogwood and honeysuckle are a froth of pink and white blossoms. Other than occasional overhanging branches, a few ravines and a river crossing, it’s not complicated riding. You need to be comfortable at walk, trot, with some canters/lopes. Saddle time is about 5 hours per day with an hour break for lunch. One day it rained, so we skipped the riding entirely and went sightseeing: local artists’ studios, Sequoyah Caverns, a historic farm, and DeSotoFalls. Many of these sights are incorporated into the regular itinerary, but the schedule can flex around a rainy day.
This is a down home ride to treat yourself to when you don’t have the time or money to prepare for a more demanding or more expensive ride overseas, or when you just need a quick and easy escape and some genuine Southern hospitality.