Jeanne Hawkins stepped out of the kitchen just as the weekday lunch crowd started filtering out of her family’s Pisgah Fish Camp, which will mark its 55th year in Transylvania County in September. She and co-owner Dana Turner, who is her oldest brother, consider their cooking time to be as vital as any other restaurant duties. “There’s no sitting in the office and delegating,” Jeanne Hawkins says. “It’s hands-on.”
Wearing a T-shirt and baseball cap, both sporting restaurant logos, she shared the recipe of how the 160-seat fish camp started by her father has thrived for many years. Its location on US 64/276, a few hundred yards from the entrance to the Pisgah National Forest, is a key factor. From the end of the school year until September, bicyclists and hikers who visit the 500,000-plus acre forest or Transylvania County’s 250 waterfalls make it a favorite pit stop. Fall attracts leaf watchers. The holidays bring in family gatherings.
Hawkins points toward an older couple leaving, noting that they eat at the restaurant three or four times a week. The Pisgah Fish Camp enjoys its reputation as the place where local folks eat. Whenever she steps out of the kitchen, “I’ll know four or five people sitting out here,” she says.
The family patriarch, Dan Hawkins, started the restaurant in 1968, and remained active until a short time before his death in 2012. “I thought my dad was Superman,” she says. “My dad was just a kind, caring man.” A “memorial” photograph of Dan Hawkins and his wife of 59 years, Fran, who died the following year, is staged in a chair near the entrance.
Dan Hawkins was a World War II veteran who grew up in Simpsonville, South Carolina, but moved to Transylvania County after the war. He managed a bowling alley and built the area’s first miniature golf course, but wanted a fish camp like he had seen in eastern North Carolina.
Secrets to his success were staying active in the community, sourcing his food from high-quality producers and charging a fair price. Fried flounder plates now cost $12.49, while catfish nabs $15.99. “My dad figured out a plan for success and we just carried on,” his daughter says. An early, smart decision was to move the restaurant from near the old Brevard Country Club to its current location.
In 1977, a fire from a malfunctioning fryer gutted the restaurant. It would re-open in 13 days thanks to community support. “Everyone in the town just pitched in,” Jeanne Hawkins says. “People who were electricians came in to work. Everyone just helped.”
In the 1970s and 1980s, the Hawkins family expanded to five other locations, including Asheville, Black Mountain, Hendersonville, Greenville, South Carolina and a Tennessee location. None had the staying power of the restaurant in Pisgah Forest, an unincorporated town of about 7,400 residents.
Keeping the restaurant family-owned has made a difference, she says, noting she and her brother don’t butt heads. “We’ve grown up in it, so we manage it well.” The entire family has always been able to communicate with each other, adds Dana Hawkins. “Anything good we do, I tend to give credit to my parents.”
The four Hawkins siblings still live in town and stay active in community life. Chris Hawkins retired as chief of detectives with the Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office. Mike Hawkins ended a 12-year run as a county commissioner in 2020.
Over the years, the restaurant has survived hard times. The Ecusta paper mill closing in 2002 idled about 600 workers. On Labor Day, Pisgah Fish Camp had provided as many as 2,000 meals for the Ecusta family picnic.
“COVID was our biggest challenge by far,” says Hawkins. After the business reopened following the mandatory shutdown, only a skeleton staff remained and her workweek expanded from 55 hours to 80. Only this spring have staffing levels returned to normal.
Pisgah Fish Camp, she says, remains more of a legacy than a business. “There’s something about working for yourself. Everything’s on you – succeed or fail. There is something satisfying at the end of the day and you’ve done a good job and you’re the one responsible for it.” ■