James January-February 2025 web - Flipbook - Page 47
There’s almost three times as
many bison alive in the world
today as when we started.
next to it. Located on the Chattahoochee River in northwest Atlanta,
Canoe’s setting is nearly unmatched
and is also a popular wedding venue.
Canoe’s location also has a unique
history, starting out as a post-war
speakeasy and dance hall that often
hosted vaudeville acts. It became a
French bistro on the river before it
was eventually acquired by McKerrow. In a city with few commercial
businesses on the river, Canoe offers
an ambiance in the Atlanta area that
is found nowhere else in town.
For McKerrow, that connection to
the river is a big one. One of his passions is fishing and he relishes being
able to fly fish out his back door.
One of the things that pulled McKerrow and Turner together was their
commitment to the environment. McKerrow is committed to using as much
locally grown product as possible and
Canoe was among the first restaurants
in Atlanta to aim for a farm-to-table
menu. McKerrow helped to re-pioneer
the paper straw, something that had
been around for decades but had not
seen wide usage.
For Ted Turner, the success of
Ted’s Montana Grill— thanks to the
leadership of McKerrow— helped to set
up his second chapter (or fourth or fifth
chapter), post-CNN, post-Braves— the
chapter of Ted as environmentalist. Ultimately, that will be Turner’s biggest
legacy. As one of the largest private
landowners in the United States,
Turner has conserved and preserved
millions of acres with the laudable
goal of restoring them back to nature.
Baker Owens is a staff writer for James and James
Magazine Online.
JA N UA RY/ F E B RUARY 2025
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