Wondering about wild grapes

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Wondering About an Old General Store.

I got to remembering about an old general store that I used to spend a lot of time inside and also sitting out on the steps just talking to others who were also sitting out on the steps.  This little store was the only store in a small railroad town in Pennsylvania.  It had a cracker barrel and pot bellied stove to keep the chill off in the winter time.  All those who were sitting on the steps would move inside in cold weather and warm their hands and feet at that old pot bellied stove.  Here are a couple of pictures of pot bellied stoves:


Actually the one I am talking about looked more like this one:

That little store was across the street from my grandparents house.  It was also up the tracks from the roundhouse where the locomotives were stored waiting for their turn to pull railroad cars where ever they had to go.  This little store and the conversations of those sitting on the steps or around the stove were a learning thing for me and an experience I will never forget.  Boy do I yearn for those good old days.  Now, even though we all have to live in today, make sure that today is a great day for all of you, you hear?

14 comments:

  1. We left Ohio on Sunday and already your post about potbellied stoves made me homesick. I used a wood burning cook stove for years..... One of those with a warming oven and a wafer reservoir.... No Cracker Barrel, but I loved those good ole days!

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    1. I am sorry it made you homesick, but I got homesick while I was writing it. Even got a tear in my eye. . . but I am way to sentimental.

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  2. So many great memories of the good old days. Thanks for the flashback.

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    1. It is good to remember the "good old days", even if some of them were not so good.

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  3. When I was living in rural MA I used to walk up the street to a real time General Store. Wooden steps and porch with a hitching post put front. They sold anything and everything inside; and the P.O. was there also. People from town would come and sit and chat. Very nostalgic, miss that place. It was straight out of the late 1800's or even early since it was MA. Have a great weekend.

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    1. Yes, that is exactly what I remember. Glad you have the memories, too.

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  4. I don't remember many pot bellied stoves, but the old coal furnace put out some good heat, especially if you stood or sat on a floor register.

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    1. When I lived at home with my parents, they had a coal furnace in the cellar. There was also a room off the side of the basement that was used for coal storage and had small door in the wall with a shoot for filling it with coal. A big truck would come and fill it up with coal. Later they replaced that furnace with an oil furnace long after I was married and had my own family.

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  5. I can remember the old wood burning cook stove in my Uncle Bill's house. Sure did keep the living room and kitchen warm.

    Never lived around a general store, but I'm sure I would have enjoyed it!

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    1. Wood burning stoves not only warm the body, they warm the soul.

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  6. I remember the wood and glass candy case near the old fashioned cash register. We used to pick up pop bottles and turn them in and then spend a long time picking out penny candy.

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    1. Oh yes, I remember those, too. They seemed to always put the candy show case next to the cash register so that the kids would be yelling for candy when their moms had their purses open ready to pay.

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  7. My first 6 years were in a tiny tiny spot in the road with an old general store, 1 gas pump in front, wooden benches on the porch where men, farmers, gathered to watch the world go by. And yep, an old pot bellied stove used in the winter, benches moved in. We moved here, but went back to visit and us kids made lots of trips to that ol store....

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    1. Those old stores sure made lots of great memories.

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