The Olfactory At 4701 Richmond Ave.

[kittysmith]

In the early 1970ies, I worked at a tiny, wonderful plant place on Chimney Rock near Richmond called "The Olfactory." It was owned by Harold Peterson, a bearded Viking of a man. We sold plants and made terrariums, which were all the rage then. We stocked a large variety of dried herbs in bulk (unique to stores at that time!) that came from Madelaine Hill's Hilltop Herb Farm. Harold was closely associated with them and used to take groups up there (around Huntsville?) for the Saturday lunch. I never went because it seemed too expensive, and I was too shy to ask my boss for a free or discounted meal there. Too bad! We sold tons of handmade potpourri at Christmas and ground flour for customers.

Before he opened The Olfactory, I believe Harold shared store space with "Aunt Pookie's" that used to be in a converted gas station on Richmond. Aunt Pookies sold homestyle biscuit and sausage breakfast sandwiches created by the real "Aunt Pookie." This was long before the Egg McMuffin and about a thousand times better. They stayed open for a long time.

Does anyone rmember the wonderful little Olfactory and/or know what became of Harold? I think his wife's name was Mary, and they had a little orange kitty they named O.J. (for Orange Juice, not Simpson.) It was one of my very favorite jobs.

[isuredid]

I don't know anything about that store, but the original Hilltop Herb Farm restaurant was outside of Romayor next to the Chain-O-Lakes Resort