Twelve years before Smith Mountain Lake first reached full pond in 1965, there was Carl's Place. The Penhook gas station/convenience store was operated by Mable Dalton and named for her husband, Carl, who worked for the Division of Forestry.

"When they first opened the store, we were farming too," said Marie Ogden, the Daltons' daughter. "We were raising tobacco."

In 1947, Ogden said there wasn't much but farm land around the area. There were a few other family owned convenience stores along Virginia 40, but while they all closed, Carl's Place endured.

Before the dam opened, the Daltons razed the store and rebuilt it, making it larger and adding a restaurant. There was still little in the way of area businesses, and the restaurant was a local attraction.

"It was quiet, but even then, my parents' place here was busy," said Ogden.

She said it was a popular hangout location for the area's teenagers, who would come to the restaurant to eat, socialize and listen to the jukebox. The Daltons lived in a house behind the store, and Ogden said there were days when she'd come home from church and wouldn't be able to find a place to park.

"They all liked my dad," she said. "Although, if they got out of hand, he'd put them in hand."

The number of customers hasn't waned over the years. Customers of all ages come by the restaurant, which is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Many of them are regulars, coming every week or every day.

"This is my second family up here," said David Pedigo, of the Penhook/Union Hall area. "We come here every day; we come here for breakfast, lunch and dinner."

He's the caregiver for his wife and said she enjoys eating at the restaurant. They've been dining at Carl's Place consistently since the couple retired to the area from Richmond five years ago. Pedigo said they lived at the lake part-time for 30 years and always stopped at Carl's while in town.

"I missed it when I went to Richmond," he said. "If I couldn't come here, it would ruin my day."

The restaurant's menu is extensive, so regular customers can find a new thing to order every day. Breakfast is served all day, with staples such as pancakes, French toast sticks, hash browns and biscuits with eggs, meats and cheeses.

Lunch and dinner run the gamut from hot dogs, hamburgers, deli sandwiches and barbecue sandwiches to pork chops, liver and onions, 21-piece shrimp and flounder.

Ogden said the employees make the potato, chicken and macaroni salads from scratch. The coleslaw and chili also are homemade.

"I think that makes them better," she said.

The popular pies also are made fresh daily. Ogden said her mother, now 84, still makes them the old-fashioned way.

"They're just old-timey coconut cream and chocolate with meringue," said Ogden, adding that her mother also bakes apple and pecan pies, as well as cakes, for the restaurant.

"My mother, she's still very much in charge here," she said. "This has been her life."

Ogden joined her mother at Carl's Place in 1984 after doing hair for 18 years. After her own daughter, Donna, graduated from college, she and her husband Mike Lovelace came to work there as well.

"It's a partnership," said Ogden. "It's a family working together."

The family atmosphere spills over to the 17 other employees. Some of them have worked at Carl's for more than 30 years. Some are local teenagers working at the restaurant through high school or college.

They don't get much downtime, said Ogden. Between cooking meals, washing dishes, running the cash register and keeping an eye on the gas pumps, there's always a customer to serve.

"It's constant throughout the day," said Ogden. "We may have some time, like an hour break in the afternoon."

Other than that, the parking lot in front of Carl's Place is packed, as it has been for 61 years. Carl died four years ago and the jukebox is gone, replaced by Sirius satellite radio, but it's the same popular location it's always been.

"We've been very fortunate that we stay busy year-round," said Ogden. "We have really been blessed with really nice customers who come in over the years."