Moonshine for ‘moon burgers,’ not moon pies
In a recent column, I mentioned having a “moon burger” at Moonshine, an old general store out in the middle of the country, and got the question (maybe tongue-in-cheek): “Are moon burgers the same as moon pies?”
Nope, they’re not at all the same. And let me tell you, Moonshine moon burgers are a long way from the moon-pie concoction of graham crackers, marshmallows and flavoring of some kind. Not even close, but the burger does have a similarity of sorts with the way the pie is stacked. To begin with, the moon burger (the “world-famous Moonshine Burger,” as it’s called on the Moonshine website, is a quarter-pound, flattened-out ball of freshly ground beef with whatever trimmin’s you want to pile on. There are all kinds of other grilled sandwiches and drinks and chips available, too, but the moon burgers and the old general store surroundings are the main attractions—cash only, no credit cards for food, Moonshine T-shirts or other memorabilia.
The area is known as Moonshine, not just the store. Sometimes, you may hear rumors that the name was somehow connected to the homemade liquor, moonshine. I grew up in the area and had heard that rumor; I’d also heard the story reported to be true. Back in the early ’80s, I took a group of students on a camping trip to conduct cultural journalism interviews and write about them and stopped at Moonshine for an interview and some food. Enid Misner was running the store at the time, and had been since 1964 with her husband, Raymond, who had passed away. They asked her about the name.
“I was told that when they laid out the roads that it was low here, an’ the moon was shinin’ on the water,” she said. “And they called it Moonshine. I don’t know if that’s right or not.”
I don’t either, but that is what my father always told me, too. He grew up on a farm about three miles east and said he and his brothers used to ride horses to Moonshine on Saturday nights for get-togethers. The current store was built in 1912 to replace the one built just a little north in 1889 by William St. Matrz and has pretty much remained the same. Like general stores everywhere back in those days, it was a gathering place. When my father was young and on up through the days after World War II, people came there to “do the tradin’” and was a place for farmers and oil field workers to come for lunch.
Two of the previous store owners, Brian and Gladys Williams, started offering cold-cut sandwiches and hamburgers in the 1950s. Brian also bought one of the first televisions in the area and a full crowd gathered at the store on Saturday nights. When Enid and Raymond bought the store, they continued the sandwiches. Through the years, the grocery business went down as people went to town for the supermarkets, but it was still a gathering place. People still came in for sandwiches. And they gathered for coffee and wide-ranging conversation in the mornings. My father often went in the mornings after he retired. His last meal was one of the moon burgers with cheese he’d gone to Moonshine to get for my mother and him three hours before he died.
Enid sold the Moonshine Store to Helen and Roy Lee Tuttle in 1982. They continued the menu and added to it. The moon burgers are said to be rated among the top hamburgers in Illinois—I don’t know if that’s true, but they are very good. And the moon burgers have attracted national and international attention. Moonshine has been featured in numerous newspaper stories, radio and television pieces, including an appearance on “CBS Sunday Morning” with Bill Geist, who traveled to Moonshine and included it in his book, “Way Off the Road,” the Travel Channel and the Food Network. Helen even had “a radio chat with a Swedish radio talk show.”
Travelers from every state and several countries have visited Moonshine. It’s located at the corner of 600th E. St. & 300 N. Road. The address is 6017 E. 300th Road Martinsville, IL 62442. See more on Facebook and email at info@moonshineillinois.com. “Hours: 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. Grill closes at 12:30 p.m. SHARP,” the Moonshine Store brochure says. And I’ve heard of people getting there a few minutes late and not getting a moon burger. Back before GPS directions were available or used much, people have called the store for directions from Interstate 70 between Marshall and Casey.
Check out the Moonshine website for a photo and more information about the place. It’s worth the trip there. As the person asking about the moon pie said, “It seems we draw closer to the old timers from our past as we ourselves become the old ones.”