We’ve just discovered something amazing that’s been around almost forever, and I can’t believe we never realized what we were missing.

Maybe everybody else already knows about it, but just in case you don’t, let me tell you.

Last Saturday, we drove up to Soapstone Baptist Church on Liberia Road near Pumpkintown. We could smell the food before we got out of the truck. And we walked into the church’s dining area and saw stretched out before us a feast.

Mabel Owens Clark, a longtime church member and resident of Little Liberia, is the chef who turns out some of the best food we’ve eaten.

There were smoked ribs, baked chicken, fried chicken, fried fish, fresh green beans, baked beans, fresh cream corn, steamed cabbage, squash casserole, turnip greens, candied sweet potatoes, potato salad, slaw, cornbread, rolls, iced tea, peach and cherry cobbler and if I’ve left anything out, please forgive me.

We feasted, as did many others sitting at the tables.

Soapstone Baptist Church has a small congregation now, and the monthly buffet is the primary support of the church.

Mabel cooks all the food herself, and on the third Saturday of each month, dinner is served at $10 a plate.

Not since I sat at my Grandmama’s table have I eaten real Southern cooking so perfectly seasoned.

In addition to an excellent meal, we were treated to an incredible view of the mountains. The church is built on a huge outcropping of soapstone and was established after the Civil War by freed slaves who settled on land bought from or received from former masters. Following the war, many landowners had land but no money to pay wages with. So former slaves worked in exchange for land.

They named the community Little Liberia.

Soapstone Baptist Church is the oldest African-American church in the Upstate. There was a school located next to the church, and although the original building is gone, the structure that replaced it still stands.

Nearby is located the slave cemetery, part of the Heritage Corridor tour. Those who rest there were born into slavery but died as free citizens.

Old tombstones can still be seen there, although the engravings on some have faded over the years until they appear as faint tracings.

But they are still there, as is the church. They stand as a testament to remarkable people who not only survived, but thrived. Many of the great-great-grandchildren of the first residents have spread out over the country, completing college and relocating to areas offering more diverse opportunities.

Clark is a wonderful resource for all kinds of information about the area and well worth talking to.

The only Saturday when no meal is served is the third Saturday in December, because the kitchen is closed for the holidays.

This year the meal will be served in November, and the wise among us will get in line for the last buffet of the year.