General Store’s…there should be more.

In this day and age of not only grocery stores’ but super Walmarts and Targets, three of which we have in my town, I absolutely just love an old General Store. I don’t know about you but this is the type of store that was in my life when I was a young child. I was born and lived in the mountains of North Carolina before we moved to the coast and my Pap-paw used to take me to a store very similar to this one. He would always buy me Moon Pies and Cokes’ in a bottle… don’t you just love pap-paws’ :) I can still see him in his overalls and hat, smell the fruit and wood of the store, hear the farmers and old men chatting with Pap-paw about their day. So this place feels like a step, not only back in time, but back home as well. I so wish that I had found this little treasure 20 years ago. I have to say thank you to Neal and Angie…you guys just made my year.

This establishment is about 10 miles outside of town. I have passed this treasure on my way to soccer games for FOUR YEARS, yep you heard me right, FOUR YEARS. No it is not hidden by trees, no it is not down a side road out of sight. It is right on the highway in plain view. I am just that oblivious. I have consoled my self with, “You were on your way home from grueling hours of non stop soccer”, ” The sun was in your eyes”, “The boys made sure to distract you, right as you approached the store…diabolical monkeys ” . They had a master plan to keep it a secret, you see my oldest monkey has been there with the a fore mentioned Neal and his son Alex.  Nah… it was all just me, being in a hurry and hoofing it get back home as usual.

They have everything from fruits, veggies, cheese, homemade butter and pound cakes to canned yummies that you have to travel back to the mountains for ( so I thought) or make them yourself. There are such goodies as Hot Peppers, Jams, Pickled Okra, Tomatoes and Cukes, Pickled Beans and Corn…can you see my smile about the PBC, trust me it is big. They also have something that the general store back home did not…Fresh Seafood. Loooove IT! Not to mention their prices are lower than the super markets in town. Also you must notice the rows of baskets laden with CANDY on the floor under the counters.

OH YEAH!! Look at those baskets. They were everywhere in the store. They have the boxes of peppermints that my Pap-paw always loved, old fashioned sugared orange slices, chocolate stars, confetti colored jaw breakers, caramels, lemon drops and get this… wax bottles…and an endless variety of others that would take me all night to list. The monkeys’ were in heaven over all of the choices. It took them nearly 30 minutes to pick some…and well I can’t blame them one little bit. I myself went for the sugared orange slices and a bottle of 7Up.

Now this  made me stop and breathe deeply…beans…heavenly beans.

Bin after bin of beans :) OH JOY! Another ginormous smile. Enough said.

Now I can’t forget the bottled Cokes’, so here they are along with their brethren, bottled Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper, 7Up, Orange Crush and Yoo Hoo. Come on, you know you want to sing it…Yooooo Hooooo. It just makes you giggle.

I can’t forget the nuts. Barrels and barrels of nuts and look how inexpensive they are. I know some one who paid $8 for a pound of pecans, Yikes! Now I know you had to have noticed the cast iron cauldron. I am in love,  can you just imagine the amount of Gumbo or Brunswick Stew you could cook in this baby? Forget that…Potato Soup! I just loooove me some potato soup. Lord in Heaven I  would just burst from gluttony if I had that much potato soup, but I would burst with extreme joy.

This place, well for the a lack of better word…ROCKS. I am so TICKLED that I found it. I am headed back Wednesday morning to get some yams/sweet potatoes.  Mmmmhmmm, I know you have the same problem in your family. Which one is it? Is it yams or sweet potatoes? Being a southerner it’s sweet potatoes for me but my surfer is from California and for him they are yams. This is big debate between my surfer and Dad…never ending debate…every single Thanksgiving debate…pig headed, joking, manly debate, you get the point.  Anyway I hope that you enjoyed a look at the discovery in my backyard, and the trip down memory lane with me.

Now go out and find your own hidden treasure…you just never know what you may discover in your own town :)

Tickled Red