Martha Shaffer got into the ice cream at her family’s reunion.

The driver of the party bus knew to lookout for the tall Adluh smokestack. He was to turn left at that landmark and deliver his passengers to Sally’s House on the milling company’s property. Everyone on the bus was a member of the Allen family coming to Columbia for their first reunion out–of–state.

Adluh’s Jack Edgerton, CEO of one of Columbia’s oldest businesses, challenged his family to break with tradition and have their annual reunion in Columbia this year. He thought they’d like to take a tour of the milling company their ancestors founded more than a century ago. He offered to provide lunch for everyone if they would just bring some of their famous desserts.

Campbell Ellis, Rachel Horton, Huntley Allen, and Walker Shaffer enjoy playing at the Allen family reunion. As a youngster, Edgerton remembers hearing family descriptions of the reunion that began on his birthday in 1950 at the family home place in Wadesboro, NC. “The children loved to play in the yard among those big–ol’ pecan trees; most of them four feet in diameter,” Edgerton said.

When the family outgrew the home place, they began holding their reunions at local churches and having the meal catered. “We started at the Baptist Church, then moved to the Methodist Church, then we outgrew that one, too.”

Edgerton said, “I figured I could give them something at least that good.”

Besides the good and plentiful food that has come to be expected with any Edgerton–hosted event, another cultural highlight of the reunion is the family story telling.

Sometime after lunch, the children in the family are gathered around Aunt Mary Ruth who told them the legends they are to pass on to their children one day. A large part of the family lore involved J. B. Allen.

Allen Brothers Milling Company was left to Edgerton’s grandfather, J. B. Allen, and his siblings. Edgerton’s grandfather was orphaned at an early age and reared by an older sister. As an adult he eventually bought his siblings out to become sole owner of the milling company. Edgerton has kept the business in the family.

Relatives arrived at Sally’s House in Columbia for the reunion from FL, GA, TN, VA, NC, and parts beyond the region. Sally’s House is the historic building just outside the milling operation where Edgerton and the Midlands Chef Association hold the annual Grits Cook–Off, and one location where Vista Lights is celebrated.

Although the relatives loved the visit to Columbia, they are still deciding whether to come back again next year or to alternate locations for future family reunions. “They won’t get a better deal than I offer them here,” said Edgerton, the genial and generous host.