Restaurant Review: Sword and Shovel

In August of 2022, New Saint Andrews College opened The Sword & Shovel Coffeehouse & Bookstore at our south campus building, just off Friendship Square. This month, we finished remodeling the back room of The Sword & Shovel in order to create an overflow space for NSA students (who are now overflowing the campus). The bulk of this work was pulled off by my wife, Rebekah Merkle. It didn’t take long for the back room to be christened The Cave of Adullam. Why such an unusual name? First, that back room feels a bit like a cave—dropped ceiling and no windows. Second, The Cave of Adullam was the place where King David once gathered with his misfits as they hid from Saul—a kind of Old Testament Sherwood Forest and a fitting description of the NSA student body. Lastly, and probably most importantly, The Cave of Adullam was the name of a column that used to appear in the Moscow-based magazine Credenda/Agenda. The Cave of Adullam, back then, was a lot like what The Babylon Bee is now—a recounting of regnant follies with some humorous observations about the madness. It was in the pages of Credenda/Agenda that NSA was first advertised, and the first class at NSA was recruited. My wife decorated the room with a bit of a nod to the early days of NSA. She put up framed copies of the very first ads for NSA that appeared in Credenda/Agenda. She hung the actual windowpane that her brother Nate Wilson used to successfully fake the Shroud of Turin. She also posted the headline from that one time when NSA student Mark Beauchamp ran for the local school board. That is a long story, but one that still makes for a few chuckles. Suffice it to say that Mark’s defeat was announced by a huge headline in theMoscow-Pullman Daily News—“Kinkade in a Landslide” that left Mark breathing much easier. She designed a fabric featuring the NSA school colors and then proceeded to use it to wallpaper the walls. Wallpapering with a self-designed fabric is a Rebekah Merkle sort of thing to do. And it worked. Out of the leftover fabric, she made tote bags that are for sale at The Sword & Shovel and are great for carrying away a plethora of books that can be purchased there. As if this isn’t enough, she also designed and produced a second fabric to cover the drop-ceiling panels that commemorate the three NSA halls: Jericho, Ashdown, and Malta. For the last part of the remodel, Mrs. Merkle had a whole slew of leather armchairs and custom booths produced to furnish the cave. Now, that room is a perfect place for study groups and private cramming sessions. The students seem to love the space and are making great use of it. If you are going to be in the vicinity, be sure to check out The Cave of Adullam. 

Ben Merkle 
President 
New Saint Andrews College