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Marvel at ‘Glori-Fried’ Chicken and 15-Cent Beer on Swamp Fox’s Throwback Menu

And pine bark stew

Menu from 1939
Francis Marion Hotel
Erin Perkins is the editor of Eater Carolinas, covering the food and restaurant scene across North and South Carolina.

Downtown stay Francis Marion Hotel tweeted a photo of a 1939 menu from in-house restaurant Swamp Fox, and it’s glorious. The hotel opened in 1924 as the “largest and grandest in the Carolinas.” The ‘30s menu gives us a glimpse into the dining world of visitors to the Lowcountry during that time period.

The offerings are rather continental, but uniquely-Charleston items, like shrimp pilau and crab soup, mix with Pee Dee favorite pine bark stew, and “glori-fried” chicken. You can even pick up a Tru-Blu beer for 15 cents. The prices at the Swamp fox have gone up just a bit since 1939, but the restaurant still serves as a gathering place on the corner of Calhoun and King Streets today.