
It doesn't look like much now but this used to be the center of a small community in South Eastern Ohio called Sycamore Valley. It had the post office, general store, everything from food to nails, screas whatever you may need and of course gas pumps out front. Oh and yes the wood stove in the center of the main store. Pop came out of the old Coke machine until the day it closed down. The Morrisons owned the store with Morris running it.
The community or hamlet as some would call it was about 4 miles from where my Dad grew up and my Grandmother lived on a farm that had been in our family since back in the late 1860s. All over those hollows one could hear the old engines running pumping oil out of wells drilled in the late 1800s early 1900s , still pumping all of those years later. If you wanted to know what was happening you went down to the store, no TV and no need for one.
People came and went, moved away and came home and the old store was always there looking just the same as before they left. It would be interesting to know how many people walked up those steps over the years, how many old guys sat on the bench that was out front telling their tales.
I can still remember the last time my Father and I were there when it was still open. Walked in Morris said " Hello" we walked over to the Coke cooler and opened the lid to pull out a cold pop, yes we drank pop not soda's. There wasn't any hurry to rush in and grab what you needed, you walked in talked a spell and then Morris would finally ask" Well what can I get you today Bob" ( My father )
These days people are all in a hurry, convenience stores, WalMarts, Krogers and the likes, you don't know anyones name or even what they like to do on their time off.
In the small stores across America back then life was good, life was real, no matter who you were you were a friend, you took time to ask how the other person was, what they had been doing. Today we live in a artificial world scurrying to and fro and thinking we are doing so good. But are we?
I sure would like to spend even just 15 more minutes in Morrison's General Store, just listening to the conversations that I heard as a kid. It would be so much more pleasant than " Clean up on Aisle 8 and check the price of women's feminine deodorant please"
The contents of Morrison's General Store will be sold off to the highest bidder piece by piece on September 7th. Oh how I wish I could be there. Things that have not been seen since the 20s/30s , every piece having a story to tell but being sold off and who knows where they will end up.
An end of an era, and some would say we're moving forward. Still, I'd give anything to step back in time and hear Morris say, after of course we talked about the weather and if Donnies cow was still sick or not "Well what can I get for you today"