SLOWLY CRUMBLING — The old Thompson's Store, which was once the center of the community, is slowly crumbling as other nearby structures have.
Written by Sanford BaneSubmitted by Tom Giglio with his permission

Country stores were quite common at the turn of the 20th century. 
Seems like they sprung up everywhere.  But the ones that were most
successful and long-lived were located at the intersection of a
well-traveled country road some distance from a village or town. 
Thompson's store was one of these.  One person will never write a
complete history of this store, and these few words are only meant as
this person's tribute to an institution that fulfilled its destiny and
has faded into oblivion.About a mile from our farm, at the intersection of old Route 360 (Mountain Road) and Rt. 665 and 667, Mr. W.C. Thompson built a
fair-sized building in the early 1900's and stocked it with  many items
that local farmers would need for their daily lives.  He and his wife,
"Miss Edna," and their children, worked six days a week and made a
fairly good living for themselves.They sold everything from penny candy to bags of cattle feed and most everything the local folks needed or wanted.  In addition, they had a telephone.  It was the only one in the immediate area and it was pressed into service to call a country doctor to attend to some poor
soul who had a medical emergency or maybe the undertaker when the
doctor was not successful.Behind the store, the Thompsons built a very comfortable home that still stands in good repair today.  Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the store building.  Sadly, this building that holds so many
memories from this community has been allowed to fall into decay and
will eventually totally crumble.  Such is life.In the center of the store was a huge pot-bellied stove which, when stoked to the maximum, would heat the big building, even on the coldest winter days.  The men of the day who liked to "chaw" tobacco were inclined to spit on the base of the stove but when "Miss Edna" gave them a look that would have stopped an elephant at full charge, one
spit was about all any of them could muster.  Thompson's Store was the
only country store around these parts that had a fairly clean stove.
Feed for cows and hogs came in 100-pound sacks and, usually, the sacks
were printed in many different designs.  After the product was used,
the lady of the house washed the heavy duty, cotton sack to remove
overprinting that designated what the original contents were, but left
the original neatly printed design.  The sacks were often recycled into
aprons and, if the design was especially nice and the lady was not too
large, maybe a dress or blouse that was suitable to wear to town.
Near the back door, there was a hundred gallon tank of "lamp oil"
(kerosene) that was dispensed with a hand-turned pump into whatever
container the customers brought with them.  There was no regulation
about metal, glass or even open buckets being used to transport the oil
back to their homes.  There was no electricity except at a very few
locations in the county so the only light after dark for most folks was
a kerosene lamp.  This made for very poor reading but farm folk did not
stay up late or do much reading except for the Bible.
Out front there were one or two gas pumps.  If you needed gas you would
hand pump it from an underground tank to a 10-gallon glass tank at the
top of the pump that was marked with gallon rings.  Gravity let it flow
into the car.  These pumps were used long after the store got
electricity.  When the price went to 11-cents a gallon folks said they
were going to have to stop driving.Before the store got electricity the iceman came around at least twice a week and left several hundred pounds of ice in the icebox so the customers could get a cool "dope," as Coca-Cola was called back then.  There was a story going around that the original formula for this very
popular soft drink contained a small amount of cocaine.  It was
supposed to get rid of a headache and also settle an upset stomach.  A
"dope and a Bayer" would cure most any ailment, and if it didn't, just
call Powell's funeral home.Across from the store was a blacksmith shop where you could have your horse, or mule, fitted with new shoes, a wagon wheel repaired and later, when the "Tin Lizzie" model T Ford came into use, it, too, could be fixed there.  This building remained for many years after it stopped
being used as a shop but has long since crumbled into the earth where
it once stood.  Mr. Jack Clardy was the last blacksmith to use the
shop, and he moved the equipment to a shop at his house.  His is a
whole other story - maybe later.  This shop also brought quite a bit of
business to the store.When you entered the store the very first thing you saw was the penny candy case with its glass front that showed all the wonderful
confections you could purchase for only one cent.  Few kids got further
into the store than this case.  Miss Edna always gave them all the time
they needed to decide how to spend their penny.  She seemed to have a
sixth sense about kids that truly  never had a cent of their own to
spend, and there were always many of these.  As a rule, they never left
the store without something to "keep them sweet."
After the store got electricity, most everything changed.  They stayed
open later at night and the store was a real beacon in the community. 
They got electricity before World War II but as soon as the war started
there were no more power lines run until after the war was over.  None
of the farms around our area had electricity until 1946.  What
excitement!!! Bright Lights!!!Behind the candy counter were shelves with cans of all types of meat and veggies and top shelves with cereals and other boxed products.  On the right side of the store was the dry goods department.  This
department carried "over-hauls," work shirts (denim) and work boots
(large sizes only).  Next the hardware department, with plow points, ax
handles and lots of nuts and bolts to repair whatever broke and needed
immediate work.  Then, there was the feed department on both sides of
the store with cattle feed, hog feed and many types of flour to feed
people.The physical appearance of the store was really only a minor part of
the total picture.  This was where most of the day to day news of the
community was passed from person to person with a smattering of old
fashioned gossip thrown in for good luck.  If someone was "laid-up"
with an ailment during an important farming season and plowing or
saving a crop had to be done, it was at the store that a crew got
together and did what was necessary.  Without having any thought of
being paid for their work.  The person who needed help probably didn't
have any money anyway.After dark, Miss Edna retired to her house, leaving one of her sons in charge of the store.  This was the time when "The Buzzed Rock Boys" stopped by the store  (This is way too long to go into now, but maybe there will be a story about the Buzzard Rock Boys at a later time). 
The big reason they came by was to play a card game called "setback."
Some of the country stores engaged in games like poker, a card game
that was played for high stakes, Miss Edna would have skinned alive
anyone who disrespected her enough to play poker in HER store.  Setback
was acceptable, even if occasionally pennies were used to keep score. 
It was still about all the excitement some of the old country boys
could stand.All was not sweetness and light.  After all, these people were human
and had all the failings that humans are prone to.  Their humor was
usually on the coarse side and frequently at someone else's expense. 
Sometimes this led to unexpected and rather sad results.  One of my
cousins, Lance (pronounced Lancy) Moorefield was "kidded" beyond what
would be considered appropriate.  He was a rather sensitive person who
had attended the Julliard School of Music in New York and played the
violin rather poorly.  The guys who ragged him were not intentionally
mean spirited but were simply unaware of what the results of their
actions would be.  My cousin ended up, lost in the homeless population
of New York City, and was never seen again.
The Thompsons passed away and their sons developed other interests. 
Another of my cousins, J.W. Bane, purchased the stock and operated a
very successful store for many years, and then he, too, developed other
interests.  With better roads and cars, towns and cities became much
more accessible and country stores were not as necessary to the very
fabric of farm life.  Thompson's Store is closed and now the building
will probably follow the old blacksmith's shop that was across the
road, and slowly crumble into the earth.