The green coming into Green’s Bar-B-Que Pit has slowly trickled to nothing, and now the Gantt staple is closing its doors – for good this time, owner Diane Green Pettie said Thursday.

Since 1942, the Green family has operated the restaurant. That was when C.W. and Georgia Bell Green opened the one-room structure, offering bar-b-que for 35-cents and soft drinks for a nickel. A lot has changed since then. Prices have steadily climbed over the years, and Pettie is now the one in charge, not only of the restaurant, but also in taking care of her mother.

“It’s too much now,” Pettie said of the restaurant. “I’ve got to do this for health reasons. I’ve had two small strokes, and the doctor says I need to slow down. Plus, the economy too, it hit us pretty hard.

“Plus, Mother is 92,” she said. “We plan to enjoy each other’s company as long as we can.”

For years, Green’s has been one of two eating hubs in the community – Hilltop Meat Co. & Restaurant is owned by Pettie’s brother and sister-in-law, Billy and Gina Green.

Pettie said over the years, she’s leased out the restaurant and has closed the doors for a bit, but this time is different.

“I’ve never put it up for sale,” she said. “I’ve got to. It’s hard. I’ve been inside this restaurant all my life. I’m 65-years-old. This restaurant has been open as long as I’ve been alive. It will be hard to see it not open.

“We’ve had the same employees for years,” she said. “Jo Florence, she’s retired now; her nephew, Steve Bonham, he’ll be a good cook for someone. Then, Michele Daniels and Beverly Robinson – all of them, they’re like family.”

Pettie said there is someone interested in purchasing the restaurant.

“I’d like to see it continue as a restaurant, but when you sell it, you’ve sold it,” she said. “So, we’ll have to see.”

Pettie said the restaurant will still open Sunday lunch until its sold and will offer catering and private parties through Christmas.

“I hope to have enough to keep me busy through Christmas,” she said. “I don’t know after that. I’ll let the Lord take care of that. But this is it. This is all she wrote for Green’s.”