Things Every Southern Grandma Had in Her House (And Why We Miss Them)

Inside: 26 things you probably remember from a Southern grandma’s house—from candy dishes and crocheted afghans to church cookbooks and Cool Whip containers.

If you spent any time in the home of an older Southern woman as a kid, it was guaranteed to be filled with the same things. Don’t ask me why. It’s just a fact and a mystery.

There was a candy dish somewhere in the living room. A crocheted afghan draped over the sofa. A stack of church cookbooks in the kitchen. Good dishes that were only used at Thanksgiving and Christmas. A sewing basket filled with that same tomato pincushion and enough buttons to replace every button ever lost by the entire family.

Then there were the things they all seemed to save. Rubber bands. Aluminum foil. Cool Whip containers. Gift boxes. Anything that was still “perfectly good.”

I didn’t grow up with the quintessential Southern grandma myself, but I was lucky to have plenty of these women from that generation in my life. I spent countless childhood hours in the homes of my Aunt Bess, my beloved babysitter Mrs. Bomar, and even at my friends’ grandmothers’ houses. And somehow, they all had the same things. I’m sure plenty of these weren’t exclusively Southern, but these are the houses where I remember them.

Some were practical, some were pretty, and some made absolutely no sense to me at the time. But now they’re the little details that can take me straight back to being a kid in those houses.

The Little Things You Could Count on Finding.

1. A Candy Dish That Was Never Empty.

There was almost always a candy dish sitting somewhere in the living room, usually glass or crystal with a lid that made enough noise for everyone to know when you were going back in.

They all seemed to contain lemon drops, peppermints, butterscotch discs, or those strawberry candies wrapped to look like actual strawberries. At Christmas, ribbon candy or hard candy might take their place.

It was a little bit of hospitality that was always sitting there, ready for whoever happened to come through the door.

2. A Crocheted Afghan.

Long before we were carefully arranging a different throw blanket for every season over the corner of the sofa, Southern grandmas had the crocheted afghan.

It might have been made from granny squares, zigzagged in every color of yarn imaginable, or crocheted in colors that didn’t have anything to do with the room around it. Chances are somebody in the family made it, and chances are it sat there for decades.

And unlike some of the other things in Grandma’s house that were strictly for looking at, the afghan was meant to be used. You pulled it over your legs while you watched television and never gave much thought to the hours somebody had spent making it (or if it ever got washed).

3. A Sewing Basket and a Jar Full of Buttons.

Every Southern grandma was prepared to handle a missing button, undone hem, or ripped seam at a moment’s notice.

There was a sewing basket filled with spools of thread, needles, thimbles, snaps, hooks, scraps of fabric, and that red tomato pincushion with the little strawberry dangling from it. And somewhere nearby was a jar full of buttons saved from who knows how many years of old clothes, just in case.

4. The “Good” Dishes.

There were the dishes everybody ate from, and then there were the good dishes.

Those lived safely behind the glass doors of a china cabinet, along with crystal glasses, serving bowls, silver pieces, and all sorts of things that were apparently much too nice for the people who actually lived in the house.

The china might have been Blue Willow, dainty florals, or a pattern she’d chosen as a young bride. Some pieces were handed down through the family. Whatever the pattern, you knew these were not the plates you pulled out for a sandwich at lunch. They only came out for Christmas, Easter, and company.

I inherited a huge collection of RedCliff ironstone from my grandmother, my parents, and my stepmother, and I still don’t use it every day. I’m not sure whether it’s ingrained in me to save it for special meals or if it’s just because the plates were a bit too small to hold much food back then.

5. Doilies Under Just About Everything.

I guess if an object was pretty sitting on a table, a doily underneath would make it even prettier?

Lamps had doilies. Figurines had doilies. The arms and backs of chairs sometimes got crocheted protection too. Sometimes even the Kleenex box was housed in its own crocheted cover.

I’m not a fan of the doily. but I can appreciate that throwing away something someone spent hours making just because decorating styles changed was unthinkable.

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What Was Always in a Southern Grandma’s Kitchen.

6. A Handwritten Recipe Box.

Before recipes lived on phones and Pinterest boards, they lived on index cards.

Every Southern grandma seemed to have a little box filled with recipes written in her own handwriting, along with cards passed down or shared by sisters, friends, neighbors, and women from church.

Those stained and splattered cards may not have been the best at giving directions—a pinch of this, a dash of that, or bake until done. But I wish I’d kept more of them just for that generation’s beautiful cursive, which somehow all seemed to look the same.

Many weren’t even named for the food. Because I guess the person had mastered that dish in a way no one ever would again. They were things like “Aunt Louise’s Cake” or “Betty’s Chicken Casserole.” We had “Mamaw’s Tater Salad.”

7. A Church Cookbook.

Right alongside the recipe box was usually at least one spiral-bound cookbook put together by the ladies at church.

There were no glossy photographs. Just typed pages of casseroles, congealed salads, cakes, pies, and things involving a can of cream-of-something soup.

The contributor’s name underneath each recipe was almost as important as the recipe itself. Because everybody knew whether Mrs. So-and-So could actually cook.

8. A CorningWare Casserole Dish.

You know the one… the white dish with the little blue flowers on the side. Blue Cornflower CorningWare seemed to be in every kitchen, along with colored Pyrex bowls.

And those dishes traveled to church suppers, family reunions, potlucks, new mothers, sick friends, and homes where somebody had died. If food needed to go somewhere, chances were good it was going in a Cornflower casserole dish with the owner’s name on the bottom.

9. A Deviled Egg Plate and Other Very Specific Serving Pieces.

Southern grandmas owned serving dishes for foods the rest of us thought could just go on a regular plate.

Most importantly, there was the deviled egg plate, with a perfectly shaped little spot for every egg. But there were also relish trays, gravy boats, divided glass dishes, cake servers, silver trays, and platters of all shapes and sizes.

I have to admit, I understand this one more now than I did then. Putting food in a pretty serving dish does make it feel a little more special.

10. A Cake Keeper With Something Under It.

There was something especially enticing about seeing a cake sitting under a glass dome.

Maybe it was pound cake, coconut cake, or something she’d made so many times she didn’t even need the recipe anymore. Sometimes she might mix it up with homemade biscuits, cookies, or the dreaded fruitcake.

11. A Pitcher of Sweet Tea in the Refrigerator.

Sweet tea wasn’t something you made because company was coming. It was a staple like eggs and milk, so there was already a pitcher in the refrigerator.

And if you grew up in the South, you made it by the whole pitcher because that’s how tea was made. I’ve left this tradition behind now, but I used to make mine with a whole cup of sugar per pitcher.

12. A Drawer Full of Things That Were “Still Perfectly Good.”

Southern grandmas may have been the original reuse and recycle generation, although they would have never called it that.

Rubber bands were saved. Twist ties were saved. Gift boxes were saved. Glass jars were saved. Aluminum foil might get carefully folded up because it could be used again.

And no Cool Whip or Country Crock container was ever tossed. Once the contents were gone, that tub had a long second career ahead of it holding leftovers or something mysterious in the freezer.

Plastic grocery bags lived stuffed inside another plastic grocery bag, and decorative tins were kept because surely there would eventually be something that needed putting in a tin.

Now I have a bag full of gift bags I refuse to throw away and a bag of grocery bags, so my transition into old age is going quite smoothly.

13. A Container of Bacon Grease.

Somewhere in the kitchen was a container of bacon grease that would horrify anyone concerned about modern food storage guidelines.

But you didn’t pour perfectly good bacon grease down the drain. You saved it. A spoonful went into green beans, black-eyed peas, cornbread, or whatever else needed a little “help“.

14. Kitchen Tools That Had Been There Forever.

These kitchens weren’t filled with gadgets ordered on impulse after watching them demonstrated in a TikTok video. They kept most of their kitchen tools for years, and they actually got used.

There was a flour sifter, wooden rolling pin, electric skillet, Bundt pan, Jell-O mold, maybe a percolator or tea kettle, and often a set of canisters labeled FLOUR, SUGAR, COFFEE, and TEA.

15. A Few Other Things That Were Always in the Kitchen.

The cabinets held Saltines, vanilla wafers, a big canister of Crisco, canned peaches, Jell-O, and jars of preserves. There was usually something in there you could snack on, even if nobody had been to the grocery store lately.

And then there were the pretty tea towels that didn’t seem capable of actually drying your hands. I never quite understood why something called a towel wasn’t supposed to work like one.

Around the Rest of Grandma’s House.

16. Family Pictures Everywhere.

Before gallery walls were painstakingly planned and carefully coordinated, family pictures just went willy nilly wherever there was an available surface.

There were awkward school pictures on the end tables you wished would disappear, baby pictures on the dresser, and Olan Mills portraits in frames chosen with absolutely no thought to coordinating with each other or the room.

17. A Telephone, Address Book, and Calendar That Kept Track of Everybody.

There was usually one central place where all important information was kept, and nobody needed a password to get into it.

The telephone with the long curly cord might even have its own little niche or shelf in the wall. Nearby were the phone book, address book, and a pad of paper. Phone numbers were written in pencil, crossed out when somebody moved, and new addresses scribbled in wherever they would fit.

Then there was the wall calendar, usually hanging in the kitchen and probably free from a bank or insurance agency. Birthdays, appointments, meetings, and family events all went on it.

18. A Big Family Bible.

This might be an older tradition, but many Southern homes had a family Bible, and it wasn’t the little paperback kind you put in your purse for church. It was substantial and sometimes even had its own special stand.

Births, marriages, and deaths might be recorded inside, with obituaries, funeral programs, and other family keepsakes tucked between the pages.

19. A Collection of Something.

Every older Southern woman seemed to collect something.

Maybe it was bells, souvenir spoons, thimbles, angels, decorative plates, salt-and-pepper shakers, or little porcelain figurines. Hummels and Precious Moments had their target audience.

And if the collection became serious enough, it earned its very own piece of furniture: the curio cabinet.

20. Guest Towels Nobody Was Supposed to Use.

There were everyday towels, and then there were towels that existed mainly to look nice for company.

They might be embroidered, monogrammed, trimmed in lace, or folded just so in the guest bathroom. And somehow everyone understood that drying your hands on one would be a serious no-no.

There might also be tiny decorative soaps in a little dish, possibly shaped like flowers or seashells, and the same rule applied to those.

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A Few More Things You Probably Remember.

21. A Linen Closet That Had Its Own Particular Smell.

Opening the linen closet in an older woman’s house had a smell all its own. A little musty, a little perfumey, and possibly a bar of soap tucked in there somewhere.

Inside were the same sheets, towels, extra blankets, embroidered pillowcases, and quilts that she’d used for years.

22. The Furniture Had to Be Protected.

Furniture was expected to survive long enough to be passed down to several future generations. There were little covers over the arms and backs of chairs, protective pads underneath tablecloths, and in some homes, plastic covers over the formal furniture that kept you from getting too comfortable with all the sliding and sweating.

Tables got coasters. Dressers got scarves. Anything that could be scratched, stained, faded, or worn out had some sort of defense system in place.

23. A Cedar Chest (or Hope Chest) Full of Things Worth Keeping.

Somewhere in the house there was often a cedar chest, and opening the lid released that unmistakable cedar smell. Inside were all kinds of keepsakes—maybe an old quilt, photographs, letters, a wedding or baby album, a christening gown, or baby’s first shoes.

24. A Special Place for the Grandchildren’s Things.

There always seemed to be a drawer, cabinet, basket, or closet where the things the grandchildren could play with when they visited were kept.

The toys certainly weren’t new and had already been well worn in by all your cousins and any other children who happened to visit. There was no thought about appropriate developmental age. It was a mishmash of coloring books and crayons, an old deck of cards, a few children’s books, a View-Master, and games you were lucky to find all the pieces for.

You knew exactly where the “kid” things were, and they stayed there waiting for the next time you came.

Just Outside the Back Door.

25. A Porch Made for Sitting.

A Southern grandma’s porch wasn’t a place to decorate. It was a place to sit.

There might have been rocking chairs, a porch swing, or one of those metal gliders that bounced a little as it moved back and forth. Macrame plant baskets hung overhead, a wind chime could be heard tinkling somewhere, and a screen door banged with every entry and exit. There was probably a flyswatter hanging somewhere nearby, because a screen door only works when it’s shut.

The porch was where Grandma shelled peas, visited with whoever stopped by, watched the children play, or just sat when the day started cooling off.

26. A Yard That Was Pretty Yet Useful.

The yard wasn’t landscaped to look like something from a magazine. There might be roses, azaleas, or hydrangeas around the house, along with some metal lawn chairs, a birdbath, a clothesline, and some sort of concrete yard ornament.

If you were lucky, Grandma’s yard had a garden, and the good things from outside found their way into the kitchen. Tomatoes ripened on the windowsill, green beans sat in a bowl waiting to be snapped, and pecans waited to be shelled with a nutcracker and picks.

And if there was ever too much of something, it went into a paper sack and was passed on to somebody else.

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Why Do We Miss the Things in Grandma’s House?

I don’t think it’s really the candy dishes, crocheted afghans, or CorningWare we miss. We could find those at any thrift store. It’s the feeling of being in those houses, where things were kept for years, food was always around, and there was usually time to sit down and visit.

So many of the things on this list were really about taking care of people. The casserole dish took dinner to someone who needed it, the cake keeper had something to offer when you came over, and the porch had a place to sit. And you rarely left empty-handed—there might be leftovers in one of those Cool Whip containers she’d refused to throw away or tomatoes from the garden in a paper sack.

I’m perfectly happy to leave the doily on every surface and a few other decorating habits in the past. And maybe it’s good if we do a few other things differently too, like actually using the good dishes and guest towels instead of saving them for company.

But I love the things that made those houses feel like home—keeping things we love instead of always replacing them, having something to offer when someone stops by, and and taking the time to sit and visit. Those parts I wouldn’t mind bringing back.

And I know I’ve forgotten some. What was always in your grandmother’s house that belongs on this list? Tell us in the comments—I have a feeling there are some good ones I’ve missed!

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