Mrs. Wilkes' Dining Room

Mrs. Wilkes' continues to thrive as a family-style restaurant, even after banishing the actual boarders. By the early 1970s, lines were forming out front before mealtime. Locals and tourists alike began to whisper that hers was one of the last bastions of true boardinghouse fare, one of the few places left where one sits down next to perfect strangers to eat.

Over the course of the ensuing two-plus decades, the lines at Mrs. Wilkes' have grown ever longer, and the good press just keeps rolling in, even as other boardinghouses close up shop for the final time. What makes Mrs. Wilkes' different? To be sure, four generations of strong family stewardship has something to do with it.