Anyone who has been to the Tennessee River town of Decatur has heard of the fine-dining restaurant Simp McGhee’s on Bank Street. It is known for its excellent food as well as the legend behind its name.

Simp McGhee, short for “Simpson,” was a notorious 19th-century riverboat captain whose antics included having his license revoked for reckless piloting and reportedly drinking in bars with his pet pig. McGhee’s legend was so ingrained in Decatur lore that when Robert and Jenny Lind Riddle opened their restaurant in 1986, they named it for the captain. Christy Hayes Wheat has owned the eatery for the past 15 years.

“The history is a big part of the allure and what draws people in to Simp McGhee’s,” Wheat said in a 2013 interview. “Everyone asks about the name and who he was.” A short version of McGhee’s history is printed on the restaurant’s menus and website.

Mysterious beginnings

According to the 1970 book “The Story of Decatur, Alabama,” by William Jenkins and John Knox, McGhee “was a debauchee but with a heart as big as all outdoors.” Little is known about McGhee’s beginnings. He was born in 1859, some say to wealthy parents, others claim he was an orphan. He is reputed to have said: “My daddy was a gambling man, my mama was the Tennessee River. I’m too mean for dry land, too gentle for the river, but when I die, there’s going to be hell to pay because hell ain’t big enough for both the devil and Simp McGhee.”

Life on the river

McGhee’s career on the river began when he went to work for the Tennessee River Navigation Co. when he was 13 years old. He eventually rose through the ranks to captain several boats, including the Chattanooga and the James Trigg. He worked the route to Chattanooga and back, and was required to pass through a dangerous area known as “The Chute.” Law required riverboat captains to use a winch-and-rope apparatus to pull their boats through the risky pass but the operation took three hours and Simp wasn’t a patient man. He was known to push his boats through the pass at full throttle, risking his crew and the boat.

McGhee’s shenanigans

One of the most popular legends about McGhee tells how he would take his pet pig with him to local bars. He would set the pig beside him and allow it to drink from a mug of beer. Kathryn Tucker Windham wrote in her book “Alabama: One Big Front Porch” that the pig was the only drinking buddy McGhee trusted.

“Simp used to say that a thinking man had to be careful whom he drank with, that not many men were trustworthy drinkers,” Windham wrote. “So Simp would sometimes bring along a drinking buddy, a carefully chosen one, when he made the rounds of the bars in Decatur or Chattanooga. His chosen buddy was a pet pig that swigged beer with Simp at the bars.”

McGhee was also a prankster. “He delighted in playing practical jokes,” Windham said, “and he reportedly tricked many a fisherman and many a hog drover into providing free food for the steamboat he captained.”

Return to the land

McGhee was finally caught in 1917 by federal agents who took his license for his risky behavior. He was forced from his beloved river. The man who once said, “I’d die of boredom if I stayed ashore” lived only three months after his license was confiscated.

He died on June 16, 1917. He is buried in Guntersville.