The chili dog is one of life’s guilty little pleasures. It’s as American as…well….hot dogs and apple pie.

The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council estimates that Americans consume 20,000,000,000 (that’s 20 billion) hot dogs per annum. That works out to 70 hot dogs a year for every man, woman, and child in the country.

The history is somewhat murky, but most historians credit Charles Feltman, an immigrant German butcher in Brooklyn, New York, as the first to combine a frankfurter sausage and a soft roll which he called “red hots.” The year was 1867.

In 1920, a man by the name of E.N. Umberger opened a store at 165 E. Main Street in Wytheville and began selling the wildly popular sandwich.

Today the store still exists and the world famous “Skeeter Dogs” are still their best selling item.

Walking into Skeeter’s is a step back in time. Much of the place is the way it was when E.N. ran the store. The lunch counter is the same and the steam table is the same except for the stainless steel top that has replaced the old linoleum.

The numerous advertising signs on the walls are not the reproductions sold all over the country, they’re the originals.

I chatted with Miss Elizabeth, the 77 year old lady who has worked the counter for the past 24 years. When I told her of my love of chili dogs (my name on yahoo and aol is Chilidawgguy), but that for health reasons I don’t eat them much anymore, she said, “You only pass this way once. If you see something you want, and can afford it, get it.” Words to live by. When asked about her favorite celebrity customer, she pointed to a picture of then Governor, now Senator, Mark Warner and said, “The Governor stops in a least once a year, whether he’s running for anything or not.”

Miss Elizabeth

In one of those serendipitous moments, I met Rodney and Carrie Catron from Virginia Beach. They were in town visiting Rodney’s 101 year old mother, and stopped in for a couple Skeeter Dogs before they left for home. Rodney attended the old Wytheville High School from 1948-1951. In those days, chili dogs were 15 cents a piece or 2 for a quarter. A coke from the box still sitting against the far wall was a nickel. He ate two a day….every day.

Carrie and Rodney Catron

Before I left, I took Miss Elizabeth’s advice to heart. I had one with slaw.

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