People call it Vinemont and they always will, but South Vinemont’s its official name — all thanks to another town who’d claimed the shorter name first, before the Cullman County version first incorporated in the 1960s.

Back then, the town’s population was around 400 residents strong, and things haven’t changed too much since then: Through some ups and downs over the years, today Vinemont is home to around 550 people.

In a modern economy that tends to turn each new highway exit into a miniature boom town, slow growth is the name of the game in Vinemont. The community was there long before the town’s official incorporation in 1961. That came just as U.S. Highway 31, which runs right through the middle, was ceding to Interstate 65 its longtime role as the region’s major north-south traffic thoroughfare.

Vinemont residents still enjoy close access to the interstate (which is just a short trip up Highway 31), but being slightly off the beaten path for passersby has its advantages. The business community in Vinemont tends to be home-grown, and its chief service demographic isn’t travelers who’re just passing through: It’s residents, many of whom were born, raised, and went to school there — and wouldn’t have it any other way.

Location aside, Vinemont’s growing. Breakfast trips are about to get a lot shorter for fans of Jack’s restaurant, because a new location is eyeing a spot along Highway 31 next to Vinemont school. To handle hungry patrons without snarling nearby school traffic, the town is installing a new turn lane where Highway 31 intersects with High School Road.

Thanks to a $300,000 Community Block Development Grant, Vinemont’s local government is only obligated for small portion of the cost of that project. The restaurant is likely to become one of the town’s most active businesses, which of course means more tax revenue. The timing’s right for that: Though not everyone on the Vinemont town council went along with it, the council voted last December to raise local sales taxes by half a cent.