Beverly Holley misses a lot of things about her husband of 59 years, but one is a specific little smile he’d crack.

It would happen on road trips through the South when the family would come across a Cracker Barrel sign. The couple’s two daughters would cry out, “Oh, Dad, there’s your logo!” Ms. Holley said her husband was humble, but he would let slip a small grin.

Bill Holley, who died in 2021, designed that Cracker Barrel logo — now the focal point of a culture war playing out among people on social media, members of Congress, a governor, one of Cracker Barrel’s competitors and President Donald Trump.

It started when the Tennessee-based restaurant chain, which has about 660 locations nationwide, unveiled a minimalist new logo last week that bore little resemblance to Holley’s origina

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