Rattlesnake Saloon In Tuscumbia Offers Grub & Fun In Unique ‘Cave’ Venue

The first time I heard someone talk about the Rattlesnake Saloon near Tuscumbia, AL, I thought they were kidding. Who in the world would construct a restaurant and saloon in a cave? Turns out the Foster family did just that on their property in Colbert County, AL. 

Owen Foster purchased the land in 1916 to farm and cut timber in the rural area southeast of Florence, AL. Owen’s son, William, better known as “Chicken Owen,” used the area where the cave is located as a hog pen because it was ideal for keeping the animals contained. Plus, he could feed them through a man-made hole with ease.

Decades later Owen Daniel Foster, Sr. created Seven Springs Lodge to give Horse riding and off-road enthusiasts a place to ride and spend time in rustic cabins, an old grain silo or campground spaces.

But it was Danny and his son William who envisioned a watering hole and restaurant now known as Rattlesnake Saloon.

Opened on Labor Day of 2009, the Rattlesnake Saloon Tuscumbia has attracted visitors from every state and over 30 foreign countries. And over the past seven and a half years the venue has received its share of media attention. In 2015 they were profiled on the Food Network’s “Craziest Restaurants in America” show.

The hours are few and the menu is simple. Rattlesnake Saloon is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. until 10 p.m. from February through November and Sunday from 11 to 3 from April to September. Beer and wine is available but only after 5 p.m. Reservations are available but only for group of 25 or more.

Entertainment is usually featured on Friday and Saturday nights.

While you can ride your horse up to the door, firearms and fighting are prohibited; similar to the runs Wyatt Earp instituted in Dodge City back in the day.

But if excitement is what you’re looking for while visiting the saloon, thousands are expected to attend a chuckwagon racing event on May 2-7.

“It’s thrilling,” Danny Foster told the Florence, AL Times Daily. “It’s competition. When you’re racing, it’s always a competition.”

Teams of two to four including the driver and outriders on horseback compete with the riders tossing a bedroll and other objects in the a moving wagon while navigating the course. Currently teams from 23 states are registered for the event.

Popular menu items include black angus burgers, chuckwagon nachos and the infamous Gigantor burger, featuring two pounds of ground beef with all the fixings, a pound of fries, half pound of onion rings and a pitcher of your favorite drink. It’s enough for four people but if any one person consumes the entire $45 entrée in 45 minutes it’s on the house.

Rattlesnake Saloon
1292 Mount Mills Road
Tuscumbia, AL 35674
(256) 370-7220
www.rattlesnakesaloon.net