People from across the nation travel down to the gravel roads and corn fields of the little Mid-Delta town to take advantage of the excessively biting fish and the rustic serenity of Lake Washington.
"It's such a peaceful atmosphere here," said Debbie Mathas of Brookhaven, who has visited the lake twice in the past month with her family.
"We tried every other place in Mississippi, and the fish just weren't biting. So, we came here," added her husband George Mathas.
What makes the experience even more pleasant are the practical, cozy cabins ready to minister, and the town's short-order cook, Martha Duncan, makes what many say are the best hamburgers in the Delta. The burgers were even ranked in the top three by the Memphis Flyer in 2003.
It's all made possible by one woman and her small-town gas station / convenience store / restaurant called Roy's Store.
Pam Hammond became the owner of the stop-and-get-it-all store about 20 years ago when she moved away from Greenville to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Now, she has transformed the once hidden store and unknown fishing banks into a vacation haven.
"We are really popular with the fishing community," Hammond said. "A worm on a hook is our motto around here. We have an abundance of catfish. We get people from up north as far as Michigan and Illinois who say the catfish is better here. It's got better flavor."
Yet, it's not just the biting crappie, bream and catfish that draw people to Chatham, according to Hammond. It's the beauty of the lake and charm of the town.
"We get a lot of families who come in to just get away for the weekend," Hammond said. "They can use Jet Skis and go swimming right here at Lake Washington."
It wasn't long before Hammond picked up on the hot spot she had right in front of her and decided to use it to her advantage. To make Chatham even more visitor-friendly, she expanded her store to include even more convenience.
She set up cabins along the lake to provide tourists with a place to stay overnight. She expanded the restaurant to include breakfast, lunch and dinner. And she set up fish cleaning stations and boat launching ramps.
Right there on Roy's Store Road, Box 246, Chatham, a person can find nearly everything including bait, groceries, motor oil, gas, beer, ice, fishing and hunting licenses, and RV spaces. Hammond even has the title of Postmaster after she built on a U.S. Post Office on the left side of her store in 1986.
Due to the high demand, Hammond expanded her business to Glen Allan by setting up an additional nine furnished cabins to her already 18 in Chatham. With Roy's 1 and Roy's 2, Hammond can accommodate 80 people. During her busy season of March, April, May and June, she comes pretty close to filling the max.
During that time, the cafe will sell dinner as well as the usual breakfast and lunch. Dinner will include crawfish tails, shrimp and Roy's special hamburger steak.
Lunch, served from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. year round, includes po boys, catfish, hamburgers, fried okra, fried green tomatoes, potato salad, pork chops and cold cut sandwiches.
Breakfast is also offered with egg sandwiches and sausage or bacon biscuits on the menu.
Roy's Store itself has been around since the early 1900s when it was used as a community store, selling items such as fabric, salt, meat, drinks, ice and gas. A large plantation bell outside of the store was used to announce lunch time to the farmers and call them in for their routine cash payroll. A very small cafe was set up inside with a short-order cook, who mainly made hamburgers for the farmers.
The store was first owned by Willie Elkas. In 1950, it burned down after a church bus caught fire when it was filling up its gas tank. Since Elkas had no desire to rebuild, he passed the business on to Roy Shanks, a farmer who had worked for Elkas. It was he who named the business Roy's Store.
The store was then passed on to Tommy Boyd, who finally sold it to Hammond in September 1985.
Yet, throughout all the different owners and expansions, the store has kept its small-town charm. The same plantation bell from the first owner still sits outside of Roy's Store in front of the area's many acres of farm land.
Hammond has made it a prerogative of hers to save the look and feel of the way Chatham used to be. Other than a few improvements and additions, Roy's Store looks pretty much the same way it did when it first opened.
Inside, she has decorated her walls and counters with countless antiques of the days past. An original cotton sack used by cottonpickers in 1945 hangs above the front door. Original tractor seats act as bar stools. A traffic light from 1955 stands proud. Each Blues Festival poster since the event started decorate the walls, and a butter churn used by the original store owner's grandmother back in 1922 stands in the middle of the entrance way.
The store is also stocked with antique fishing lures, Coca-Cola bottles, a wood-burning stove, a 1930s wall phone and an old gas pump.
