Sunday Supper
Bonnie Black
The Market Place Pinehurst eatery stands the test of time
T
By Catherine Murphy Photographs by Kat Cloutier
he Market Place Restaurant in Olmsted Village in Pinehurst is a popular local eatery that represents the true entrepreneurial spirit of a long line of Moore County natives. “We’re related to three-quarters of the county,” jokes proprietor Bonnie Black, a grandmother who has worked in local restaurants since she was 18. No stranger to hard work, Bonnie grew up working on various local farms owned by her extended family throughout the area. At 15, she pumped gas and washed windshields at her grandfather Sandy’s store and gas station in West End. Sandy’s wife, Eda, was a member of the locally prominent Blue family, which established the historic Malcolm Blue Farm in Aberdeen. The property’s farmhouse is on the National Register of Historic Places. As Bonnie was growing up, the family was self-sustaining. Bonnie notes that if they wanted to keep warm, they chopped their own wood. If they wanted to eat, they “had
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