Former train depot and general store gets new life as restaurant and local gathering place
ISTACHATTA –
Celebrity mom Janie Schneck saw blue when an opportunity came along to reopen the Istachatta General Store in this tiny community nestled in the northeast corner of Hernando County.
Always liking that color, she thought if she ever opened a business she’d call it something blue – like Bobbi Blue – which uses the first name of one of her daughters.
But that name didn’t quite fit with her vision of a restaurant and gathering place a stone’s throw from the Withlacoochee River.
What rhymes with blue and makes people think of water, she thought? The Blue Canoe.
She gave her son Nick Carter, of Back Street Boys fame, a ring to see what he thought.
“I called Nick and he said he loved the idea,” Schneck said.
Wanting to share his good fortune as a successful performer, Carter, now 30, helped his mother and her husband, Greg, start the business. When word got out among the locals that the old general store and former train depot was getting a new life, they donated a canoe to Schneck. But there was one catch – she had to paint it blue and place it outside the business as a personalized signpost.
“They kept asking me when I was going to paint it,” she said. Not that blue paint was in short supply for this blonde dressed in blue. Just about everything at the restaurant – inside and out – is painted blue.
“It took three months to remodel and I painted everything,” said Schneck, who opened the restaurant about three months ago. You might say even the music is blue at the new eatery. But it’s not the blues – it’s bluegrass.
Every Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m. local singers and strummers congregate in front of the restaurant to perform bluegrass and old-time gospel music. About 40 people had gathered with their folding chairs on a recent Saturday.
Irene Maki is a regular with the group she calls the “Blue Canoe Jammers.”
Maki said she welcomes Schneck and her new business to the community.
“We are happy to have Janie and know she is going to do a good job,” said the 86-year-old singer and yodeler.
Also on Saturday nights is an all-you-can-eat fish fry, pollock, for $6.99. Fried catfish is served every night for $7.99, and there’s an ice cream counter in the back.
The fried fish and ice cream are tasty, but do have a few too many fat calories for some diners in particular – the cyclists from the Withlacoochee Bike Trail, which passes by her restaurant.
Aware that these fitness enthusiasts prefer a healthier fare, Schneck prepares meals that cater to them.
“I try to do a breakfast menu that is healthy to draw bikers from the trail,” she said. “Bikers like buckwheat pancakes.”
Also on the menu for the health conscious are tofu scrambled eggs, a veggie hoagie, a turkey wrap and a hummus pita sandwich.
“I make everything fresh,” Schneck said, adding that her “Big Fat Greek Salad” is a favorite.
A painter and a writer, Schneck hopes to see Istachatta become an artist community.
“My dream for this place is to cook and encourage artists of any age to share their talents,” she said.
Schneck said Istachatta reminds her of the small town she grew up in Dewittville, N.Y.
“It had a general store, so it’s kind of like bringing back my childhood to have a general store.”
A resident of Hernando County for four years, Schneck now lives about five miles away from the Blue Canoe in Deerhaven Estates.
Most moms would feel blessed to have one son become a music star, but Schneck has two. Aaron, who is younger than Nick, also became a pop sensation. One of her daughters, Bobbi Carter, tends bar at the Ruby Tuesday in New Port Richey and helps Schneck out on Saturdays.
Carter said she likes the laid back, friendly atmosphere of the Blue Canoe.
“This is a breath of fresh air,” Carter said about the difference between bartending in suburbs versus waiting on small-town folks in her mom’s establishment. “I appreciate how everybody shakes my hand.”
Asked what it was like for her family when brother Nick got famous, she said, “It was very crazy. Everything happened so fast. One morning I was going to school and the next day I was on a plane flying to Japan.”
Schneck said she likes how traditional Christian values are a part of everyday life in Istachatta, which has an estimated 200 people living in the area that was platted during the 1920s.
The “downtown” has a post office, a postage-stamp size park with a shuffleboard court and a community center with a county library branch.
“This is a very religious community here,” she said. “They say their prayers before they eat and we respect that.”
She continued: “This community has given me a lot of faith in God and I’ve never been particularly religious in my life. There is something spiritual here.”
Biz at a glance:
Name: The Blue Canoe (former Istachatta General Store)
Location: 28198 Magnon Drive
Hours: 7 a.m.-p.m., Sunday. 7 a.m.-1 p.m., Monday. 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. 7 a.m.-8 p.m., Friday. 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday. Closed Tuesday.
Telephone: 352-797-6222
Biz at a glance:
Name: The Blue Canoe (former Istachatta General Store)
Location: 28198 Magnon Drive
Hours: 7 a.m.-p.m., Sunday. 7 a.m.-1 p.m., Monday. 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. 7 a.m.-8 p.m., Friday. 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday. Closed Tuesday.
Telephone: 352-797-6222
Community news editor Timothy P. Howsare can be reached at 352-544-5284 or [email protected].
