Mentone Grocery Store, Gas and Pharmacy Guide

Mentone has a market that sells groceries and gas, but for a full supermarket, a pharmacy or a hospital you drive down the mountain to Fort Payne.

That one sentence answers most of what first-time visitors want to know before they load the car. Mentone is a small town on top of Lookout Mountain, and our cabins sit in the woods just outside Mentone. Everything you need is close by, but it is not all in the same place, and a little planning turns two trips down the mountain into none.

Where is the nearest grocery store to Mentone?

It depends on how much you are buying.

For a cabin stay, start with Mentone Market. It sits in town at 5872 AL Highway 117 and has been the local general store for more than eighty years. Alongside the usual groceries it carries local farm-fresh produce, eggs and meat, fresh and frozen food, and take-out meals, which is a useful thing to know on an arrival night when nobody wants to cook. Market hours are 7am to 7pm Monday through Saturday and 7am to 6pm on Sunday. The market also runs a lunch service and sells gas, and the store can be reached at (256) 634-4686 if you want to check what is in stock before you drive up.

For a full shop, go to Food City in Fort Payne. It is at 1015 Gault Avenue South and is open 7am to 11pm seven days a week, which covers almost any arrival time. There is a deli and bakery, produce, seafood, a pharmacy and an ATM on site. If you are visiting around a holiday, note that the store closes at 3pm on Thanksgiving, closes at 6pm on Christmas Eve, and is closed on Christmas Day.

Walmart is the other Fort Payne option, at 2001 Glenn Boulevard SW, and it is the place to go if your list has more on it than food. It keeps long hours, though it is worth confirming them on the day if you are planning a late-night run.

If you only need one or two things, you may not have to leave the mountain at all. The country store at DeSoto State Park is open 9am to 5pm seven days a week. The town also lists Little River Hardware among its shops, which is where to ask about the practical odds and ends a hardware store carries. There is also a Dollar General at 8356 AL Highway 117 in Valley Head, though its hours are not published online, so call ahead at (256) 203-6242 rather than making a special trip.

Where do you buy gas near Mentone?

Mentone Market lists gas among what it sells, which makes it the simplest option once you are in town. For anything more than a top-up, fill the tank in Fort Payne on your way up the mountain. Food City lists a Gas N Go and propane among the services at the Gault Avenue store, so it is worth checking there if you want to combine the two.

The practical habit is to arrive with most of a tank. Roads on the mountain are winding and the distances between the waterfalls, the canyon and the state park add up quickly over a weekend, and you will not want to interrupt a drive looking for a pump.

Is there a pharmacy in Mentone?

Plan on Fort Payne for anything from a pharmacy counter. The Food City pharmacy at 1015 Gault Avenue South is open 9am to 7pm Monday through Friday and 9am to 3pm on Saturday, and is closed on Sunday. It can be reached at (256) 465-0185. The pharmacy is also closed on New Year's Day, Easter, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, and closes at 3pm on Christmas Eve.

There is a Walgreens at 1613 Glenn Boulevard SW, near the corner of Medical Center Drive and Highway 35, reachable at (256) 845-0128. Its pharmacy counter keeps different hours from the store itself, so an evening prescription is worth a phone call first.

The simplest advice: bring your prescriptions with you, and pack the small things you would hate to drive for. A forgotten toothbrush turns into an errand instead of a morning.

What if someone gets hurt or sick?

In an emergency, call 911. The hospital's own guidance is to call 911 or go directly to the closest emergency room.

DeKalb Regional Medical Center is at 200 Medical Center Drive in Fort Payne, and its emergency department can be reached at (256) 997-2400. It is worth knowing the address before you need it, because the drive down the mountain is not one you want to work out for the first time in a hurry. It is also worth carrying a small first aid kit for the ordinary scrapes that come with trails and firewood.

Will my cell phone work in Mentone?

Treat coverage on the mountain as something to plan around rather than count on. Signal varies by carrier and by where you are standing, and it can change between the town, the cabins and the bottom of a trail.

Two things make this a non-issue. First, the cabins have internet, so turn on wifi calling in your phone's settings before you leave home and your calls and messages will come through the cabin connection rather than the cell network. Second, download what you will need offline: your route, your trail maps and any reservation confirmations.

That second point matters more than it sounds. DeSoto State Park says plainly that GPS directions are not reliable for travel to the park and asks visitors to use its written driving directions instead. Screenshot your directions before you climb the mountain and you will not be hunting for signal at a junction.

What is already at the cabin, so you do not pack it?

Each of our three cabins, Bear Cave, Owl's Nest and Wolf Den, has a fully equipped kitchen, so pots, pans and the basics of cooking are there waiting. Each one also has a grill and an outdoor firepit, and firewood is provided, which means no stop for a bundle of wood on the way in. Each cabin has a hot tub and internet. Owl's Nest has the added convenience of a washer and dryer, which is the one to ask for if you are staying a while or traveling with children.

You can see what each cabin includes on the cabin pages, and it is worth a look before you shop, because the fully equipped kitchen is the single biggest thing people over-pack around.

What should you pack for a Mentone cabin?

The list is short, and most of it is about the outdoors rather than the cabin.

• Layers. Mornings and evenings on the mountain run cooler than the middle of the day, and a jacket you can take off beats a sweater you wish you had.
• Shoes you can get wet and muddy. Trails near the waterfalls stay damp, and the rocks beside moving water are slick.
• A rain shell. Easier than an umbrella on a trail, and it keeps a passing shower from ending the walk.
• A headlamp or flashlight. Park trails and picnic areas are open dawn to dusk, and dusk comes early in the woods.
• Swimsuits. For the hot tub, whatever the season.
• Prescriptions and a small first aid kit. See above about the drive to Fort Payne.
• A cooler. Useful for the drive home with whatever you did not eat, and for a day out at the canyon.

A simple arrival plan

The pattern that works is one stop, not three. If your route brings you through Fort Payne, fill the tank and do the main grocery shop at Food City on Gault Avenue before you climb the mountain. Anything you forget, and there is always something, comes from Mentone Market the next morning when you are not tired and the light is better.

One more thing worth knowing: the Town of Mentone notes that some businesses keep limited hours on weekdays and asks visitors to call ahead to check. That is good advice for the shops and kitchens in town generally, and it is why a plan built around the market and Food City holds up on a Monday as well as a Saturday.

With the practical part sorted, the rest of the trip is the reason you came. The waterfalls within an hour of Mentone are the usual first stop, and if you are coming in the colder months, our guide to Mentone in winter covers what is open and why the water runs best then. There is more to work through on our local experiences page.

When you are ready to pick your dates, you can check availability here.

Warmly, Camille
Co-Host, Wild Wood Cabins, Mentone
On behalf of Edward & Bethany