Jackson’s Shady Nook is getting a new life in Belhaven. Here’s its history

Built in the late 1920s, Shady Nook, 944 Poplar Blvd., Jackson, began as a neighborhood filling station serving Belhaven's early residents.

Through the 1930s and '40s, it weathered ownership changes, a full rebranding as the "Hines Shady Nook," and even a series of break-ins tied to a group of young burglars working the neighborhood.

By 1979, the little white building was reinventing itself yet again after the architectural firm Goodman and Mockbee purchased the property, with the Clarion Ledger declaring Shady Nook was getting "a new lease on life."

Now, nearly half a century after that last reinvention, Shady Nook is preparing for another. The building was purchased this year by Chaz Lindsay, owner and chef of Pulito Osteria and Rowan's just up the street. Lindsay plans to turn the century-old building — a small but enduring presence in Belhaven — into a meeting and event space.

Lindsay said he hopes to open Shady Nook back up in "mid-to-late January," in time for the legislative session. He emphasized that it will not operate as a restaurant but as a small community space for meetings, private lunches and neighborhood gatherings. He plans to update parts of the interior while leaving the rest of the building unchanged.

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"You could have a cocktail party there, you could have a wedding reception, a private dinner, a bookclub meeting — whatever you want to do," Lindsay said.

Lindsay said he didn't want the property to become an Airbnb or short-term rental. He wants the neighborhood to get used to seeing the building open again and hopes it becomes a community space.

Shady Nook's architectural evolution

Shady Nook was first built around 1928 as a one-room structure on Poplar Boulevard, according to a Mississippi Department of Archives and History property record. In 1936, architect A. Hays Town expanded it into a full-service gas station, adding three distinct bays for fuel service, mechanical work and a car wash. The station later operated as a grocery store and was a popular hangout for Belhaven College students, who would stop by to smoke cigarettes and drink soft drinks.

Town's redesign introduced the Neoclassical elements that define the building today, including the Doric columns across the front. Town, a Baton Rouge–based architect, also contributed to the Art Moderne design of Bailey APAC Middle School, also in Belhaven.

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"The Belhaven neighborhood was at the end of the streetcar line, and when cars became more available, you suddenly had a gas station right in the middle of the neighborhood," said Rob Farr, an architect with the Jackson firm CDFL, which is overseeing renovations to Jackson's planetarium.

The next major change came in 1978, when the Jackson architectural firm Goodman and Mockbee purchased the property and converted the gas station into their office. The firm was led by Thomas Goodman and Samuel "Sambo" Mockbee, who later gained national recognition for co-founding Auburn University's Rural Studio program and for his visual art. Mockbee is also credited with creating the anonymous "Bucketheads" judging tradition for Jackson's Hal's St. Paddy's Parade.

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Farr said Goodman and Mockbee enclosed the original portico — the covered drive-in where cars once pulled through — to create interior office space. They also added a curving screen wall at the front of the building, which included a circular opening and a small free-standing arch, both of which remain today. The features created a separation between the original structure and the new additions while meeting parking requirements. Farr recalled Goodman occasionally driving his Porsche through the opening in the screen wall.

A 1979 Clarion Ledger article described the renovation as "a contemporary and clever separation of the old and the new," noting the curved partition — painted a Pepto-Bismol pink at the time, but is now white — that wrapped the front of the building. Glass walls enclosed the former service bays to create naturally lit drafting rooms, and the architects repurposed several gas-station fixtures for office use: the old tire rack became storage for architectural plans, and the former oil-can rack became the firm's library.

When asked to explain the Neoclassical influence visible in Shady Nook, Farr said the design draws from classical Greek and Roman architectural orders — proportional guidelines and details first described by Vitruvius and later refined by Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio.

"Neoclassical is simply utilization of the Greek and Roman architectural elements in a new way, in a new time," Farr said.

In 2018, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History placed a historical marker at the site, recognizing Shady Nook's long presence in the neighborhood and its evolution from gas station to grocery to office.

It remains one of the few small commercial structures in the otherwise residential stretch of Poplar Boulevard, a landmark whose name has endured even as its purpose changed.

"I want the neighborhood to be able to enjoy it again," Lindsay said. "I used to ride by that thing when I was a bag boy at the old Winn-Dixie on my bicycle on my way to work, so I've always been fascinated by the building."

Charlie Drape is the Jackson beat reporter. Contact him at cdrape@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Shady Nook to reopen in Belhaven as meeting venue in Jackson MS