Photo by KRISTA KARCH The Rev. George Patterson, 68, moved to America at 17 from the West Indies.

Holding on to traditions
Rev. George Patterson, 68, West Indies

By KRISTA KARCH
Observer-Dispatch

The Rev. George Patterson, 68, has served up Southern specialties for his family for years as a way to celebrate his West Indies heritage. "I was raised on Turks Island and all over the West Indies, and we were very poor," he says. "But I found that all over Haiti, Jamaica, and that whole area, blacks ahve the same type of food."

Patterson, who moved to America at 17, is the owner of The Pit on South Street. The restaurant, which serves soul food and caters mostly to Patterson's congregation members, is next to Free in Christ Pentecostal Church, which he pastors.

"At First, we were selling hamburgers, but then we thought, why not soul food?" Patterson says.

The food is an important part of African-American and West Indies culture, he says. But for him, the main course at The Pit isn't anything edible.

"I live in America, and America has been good to me," he said. "But I think West Indies. I breathe and sleep West Indies. In the West Indies, we have respect. You've got to love people."