ROBERTSDALE, Ala. — When Steve McKinney was working on restoring the old Waters’ home along U.S. Highway 90 in Robertsdale, he took a few minutes to sit on the front porch.

“I just started counting cars,” McKinney recalled. “There would be one car after another.”

Realizing that the home’s location, at the intersection of Highway 90 and County Road 71, “one of the oldest buildings in Robertsdale,” was a potential gold mine, McKinney approached the building’s owner, Don Starling, a member of the Waters family.

“We were setting the place up to be an office,” recalled McKinney. “We had to pull a lot of it out” (to turn the place into a coffee/ice cream shop).

McKinney, a former Army band director and a music teacher at Fairhope High says he “always wanted” to run his own business, preferably an ice cream store.

The shop, which has modern-as-yesterday facilities in the kitchen area, boasts beadboard ceilings, wood trim, wall sconces and wide wood floors in the dining areas. What McKinney and others could not preserve from the 1920s home, he picked up from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Robertsdale. The home’s heating and cooling and plumbing was updated to today’s standards.

But, as authentic as the setting is, McKinney knew it would not work if he couldn’t capture that old-fashioned flavor.

“I had a good connection with John Henderson of Stacy’s Drugs in Foley,” said McKinney. “I was always interested in old-fashioned shakes and sodas.”

The shop is very much a family operation, with customers likely to see Matt and Sandy McKinney, Steve’s brother and wife as well as other McKinney friends and family behind the counter.

McKinney is also a realist, and knows that coffee and coffee drinks are king nowadays. So, Waters’ Corner serves a variety of good coffees, starting at $1.35 for a basic cup of fresh-brewed good joe.

There are lattes and cappuccinos for all and espresso drinks, like the ”Macchiato,” a double shot of espresso marked with foamed milk or whipped cream. There’s also a number of espresso-based drinks, like the “Turtle,” fresh cold espresso blended with hazelnut and chocolate, ice and milk, topped with carmel-drizzled whipped cream.

One of the most popular, McKinney says, is the “Mocha Joe,” two shots of espresso, blended into a chocolate milkshake.

“That’s a good drink for the afternoon,” McKinney said.

There’s also a number of ice-cream based treats as well, ranging from simple cones and dishes of tasty Bluebell ice cream, McKinney said. The shop also serves “brownie delights,” “Brown Monkeys,” a chocolate and banana shake, banana splits, and the “King Shake,” a confection of peanut butter, chocolate and banana shake on to old-fashioned milkshakes made “just like back in the ‘30s,”

“We serve 20-ounce shakes,” says McKinney. We have 16 flavors (of ice cream) and some of those are the no sugar added variety.”

McKinney says soda fountain favorites like the “Brown Cow” are as popular now as they were back in the ‘30s

For those who don’t remember, or never knew, the Brown Cow is a Coke ice cream float mixed with chocolate syrup. A Black Cow is the same beverage made with root beer.

Going to Waters’ Corner isn’t going to break the family piggy bank, either.

“Our prices aren’t the highest,” said McKinney. “We keep them low so people can enjoy being here.”

Visitors to Waters’ Corner can enjoy their cool and hot treats on the vintage home’s front porch or can sit in the main dining area and play a game of chess or checkers. There’s also a “parlor” in the back filled with Waters family photos which McKinney says can be used for small meetings. McKinney added that he hopes to add some tables outside so people can enjoy their goodies under the tall trees in the evenings.

“We open at 6 a.m. weekdays, so this is a good place to stop for your daily cup of coffee,” says McKinney, adding that the shop also offers simple, good for on the go breakfast food like cereal and Danish, and is a good place to “stop for school snacks.”

Currently, the shop closes around 7:30 p.m., but “as summer gets here, we are looking to be open later,” McKinney said.

The shop open at 7 a.m. on Saturdays, and is currently closed Sundays, but McKinney hopes to open the shop on Sunday afternoons if they can hire help.

Waters’ Corner Fine Coffee and Ice Cream 18850 U.S. Highway 90 Robertsdale, 947-6030.