OPINION: The Country Store: The Soul of the South had Everything
Tom Poland. PHOTO BY STEPHAN DREW
By Tom Poland
“Where should I send you to know the Soul of the South? I’ll send you to the Mast General Store.” So wrote Charles Kuralt in a 1986 column. Do you miss the old country store? If you do, you’ll love the Mast General store in Valle Crucis, North Carolina. It has a storied history and it anchors a chain of old timey general stores like “community centers” of days of yore. Eleven other Mast Generals revive memories of the general store down South, a good thing.
The general store or country store, you see, is fast receding into the past. When I see shuttered country stores along the back roads I get mixed feelings. Seeing the old stores brings a flood of joyful memories but a tinge of sadness comes along for the ride. I recall two country stores from my youth. Granddad Walker’s in the upper end of Lincoln County, Georgia, and Price’s in the lower end. Price’s doesn’t exist today, and that is a shame. Granddad’s old store was converted into a deer camp. At least it still stands.
What’s that, you say? The Dollar General takes the old country stores’ place? The old dime store, maybe, but not a genuine country store. Many of them served as a gathering place and sometimes a post office too. Speaking of dime stores, I recall the one back home in Lincolnton, Georgia, with affection. Lots of toys for sale and you could buy a pretty good hotdog with a Coke. The proprietor, Mr. Hughes Willingham, wore a bow tie and locals, you might remember how he’d follow you throughout the store. I don’t know, maybe shoplifters were a nuisance back in the 1950s. Human behavior is fairly consistent. Maybe he just wanted to provide good service. I’ll go with that.
As for the dime store, it’s as dead as the Carolina parakeet but on a back road somewhere south of me in a small town, the ghostly pale sign of a dime store haunts the main drag. I will retrace my route one day and photograph that old sign from the past.
Just recently I photographed the old store you see with this column, the LeNoir General Store in Horatio, South Carolina. When I drive to Pawleys Island, my route takes me past Coopers General Store near Salters, South Carolina. LeNoirs and Coopers are gen-u-ine as Eustace “Mr.” Haney of the old Green Acres TV show used to say.
Not so genuine? The era of the franchise store. You can walk into a so-called convenience store or dollar store anywhere and you’ll find the same inventory. You walk into Coopers or the original Mast General and its stores and you will enjoy access to a unique inventory. Nothing strange, however. A lady recalled buying “huge dill pickles from big gallon jars at the register, pickled pigs feet, and sometimes pickled chicken feet.” Pickled feet. Now there’s a delight for the true country store epicurean.
Just now a friend shared his memories of an old country store and what he used to purchase. “Johnny crackers and peppermint sticks in gallon jars, along with Baby Ruth’s and 6-ounce bottled Cokes.” Note that he said bottled. You didn’t get all this plastic stuff in a true general store.
I’ve rambled on long enough about the loss of classic country stores, but I’ll leave you with that Charles Kuralt quote with an addition. “Where should I send you to know the Soul of the South? I’ll send you to the Mast General Store.” There you will also find the heart of the South, a heart no longer beating along many a back road, I’m sad to say.