Restaurant owner retires

MADISON COUNTY – For 36 years, Nancy Beard has worked at Cherokee Pass Restaurant, serving meals to hungry diners from all over.

She will be working her final day there Sunday night.

Beard says she is ready for a break. She started as a waitress at the restaurant, June 5, 1975.

She said owning the restaurant these last 22 years has allowed her to meet “so many people.”

“I have loved all the people I’ve met. I’ll miss the people at the round table. They’ve been wonderful.”

Aside from the local people she’s had come through the restaurant, and the countless truck drivers and travelers that have stopped in off Highway 67, she has had customers from England, Ireland, and even a popular singer from Australia.

Beard said she has told people for years, that when she turns 70, she is going to retire. Her 70th birthday is Nov. 4. She says she decided it was “time to enjoy. When you own a restaurant, you have to be here all the time.”

After working 10-12 hours a day, seven days a week, she said she decided it was “time for me to have a little home life.”