The oldest continuously operating restaurant in Alabama got its start as a roadhouse to the east of Birmingham. When Golden Rule opened its doors in 1891 on the dirt road to Atlanta, the Williams family served up pit-cooked barbecue and sold beer and cigarettes to travelers. Walk into the large restaurant today and you’ll see the enormous red pit in the center of the room. It’s the focus of the restaurant. Mike Booker, who has stoked fires at the Irondale location for more than 25 years as pit master, likes it that way. He puts the butts on in the mornings for the seven-hour process.