The iconic Jarrell’s Grocery is the heart of Taylor County’s Jarrell community. The landmark was just another country store when Floyd Jarrell opened it in 1905, but over the years, as such places have all but vanished from the landscape, it has become a reminder of another time, surviving mostly through the passion of the late Estelle Jarrell (1915-2017). “Miss Essie”, as she was known to all, ran the store for 78 years, enlisting the help of her sons in her later years but remaining a fixture for everyone who came here as much for  conversation as for the sundries. She told Ed Grisamore in a 2015 Macon Telegraph feature that she remembered buying candy in the store as a young girl and started getting the family discount when she married Fred Jarrell, Sr., in 1934.

The store has limited hours today but her sons have done their best to follow her advice in keeping it open.