TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — About a 16-mile drive from downtown Tallahassee you’ll arrive at Bradley’s Country Store. The version you see today is exactly the same as it was when the store opened in 1927.
“We haven’t changed the store,” said Janet Bradley Parker, who owns the store. “We haven’t changed our product and we have a lot of pride in that tradition.”
Jan’s grandfather was born on the property in 1893. He ran the store until the 1950s. Then Jan’s father took over before retiring in the 1990s.
“My dad. Hardworking, honorable man,” said Parker-Bradley. “Honest as a day is long. Then my grandfather. His favorite thing to do was sit on the porch and talk to people as they came in.”
There’s one main thing that’s kept customers walking through those doors for nearly a century.
“Sausage! That is our main claim to fame, is our sausage,” said Parker-Bradley. “We do a homemade sausage here. And we still make it the same way that my great-grandmother started making it in 1910. It’s salt, black pepper, red pepper and sage and whole hog pork sausage. There are no preservatives, no additives, we’re gluten-free, sugar-free.”
There are three options for Bradley’s famous smoke sausage. Mild, medium and hot.
“Hot is a relative thing,” said Bradley-Parker. “Some people say that our mild is too hot and some people say that our hot is too mild.”
But don’t take Jan’s word for it.
“The draw out to Bradley’s is definitely the homemade country sausage because it is just second to none and a delight,” said James Derzypolski who was visiting from Tampa. “So whenever we come up to Tallahassee it’s a must-do run out here.”
When you make the trip to Bradley’s make sure to check out their homemade grits, which even made it to the desk of President Bill Clinton when he was in office.
