The Country Store

I had a conversation with a lady who had grown up in a rural area of North Carolina. We were talking about some of our experiences living in the country as children and teens. After our time of sharing I realized that country life in our two states was very much the same. I was reminded how important the country store was to country folks. Obviously the grocery items like tobacco, chicken feed, fly swatters, gas, kerosene, work gloves, nails of all sizes and many items hidden away on a shelf somewhere that only the owner knew where to find, the basic necessities were important to meet the needs of those living in the area.

The country store also served as a kind of social club where everyone in the community was welcomed. It was a pace for some to loaf and shoot the breeze (talk). A place to quickly grab a coke and a pack of nabs from that big Lance jar. If someone forgot to pay, those items would be added to their credit account which they would pay whenever they sold their tobacco crop. In the winter when the farmers were not as busy with farming chores the country store accommodated those who dropped by to play cards or checkers. Card tables were set up near the fireplace or the potbelly stove and many hours were enjoyed by those who played games like Rook and those who only came to watch and talk. The country store was just a good place to quell the boredom of a long cold winter.

The country store was a place for country folks to spin their yarns, tell stories, some true, some partly true and most likely greatly embellished, but always enjoyed by the everyone. As a very young  boy sitting on somebody’s knee until I was too old, I enjoyed listening to the tales told by the farmers, many who unknowingly influenced my life in some way. There was nothing pretentious found in these gatherings. Farmers having a good time, smoking, chewing tobacco, occasionally spitting in the fireplace, their work  boots always with a little cow manure on them, some wearing tattered felt hats or an old cap they got at a feed store, most of them poor men with families to feed, hard working men enjoying a few hours with their neighbors. Back in those days if bad luck came to a farmer’s home everybody came to lend a helping hand.

My experience growing up in a country store and as I got older working alongside these men and their sons in the fields, provided me with an education better than I ever got from the many college and seminary hours I acquired. God blessed me with a life that I’m afraid is hard to come by today. Only a few country stores remain and the old days of farming has disappeared as well. That is why those of us who remember should tell the old stories of how it was in the days of the country store.