The Mascot started in 1955 as a roadside tourist stop and gas station in Glennville, Georgia, catering to people driving to and from Florida on what was then a busy Highway 301. Mills and Juliet Tarver ran it, and it quickly got known for two things: unique handmade candies and fresh Georgia pecans.
Mills shelled the pecans by hand and put them in bags for the tourists. Customers started calling back for more, so Mills and Juliet began a small mail-order business shipping pecans; as it grew, Mills added an automated cracking system and formed Mascot Pecan Company, specializing in fresh-shelled Georgia pecans. The roadside store and gas station closed in the late 1960s, when most of the Highway 301 traffic was routed onto Interstate 95.
In 1991 the Tarvers’ sons, Kenny and Tim, bought the business from their father. Today Mascot Pecan Shelling Company stands on the same spot where the original Mascot stood, 819 S. Veterans Boulevard: an integrated shelled-pecan and candy processor, still family run.
