By Joann M. Ringelstetter
In April, 2010, on the fifth day of a two-week photography trip, Ruth and I stopped at Baynes General Store, located at a rural crossroads in Caswell County, North Carolina. There has been a general store at this crossroads for around 160 years. Baynes General Store has been operating pretty much continuously for the past 100 years.
The current store was built circa 1907 and it was called Baynes and Harrelson until 1920, when Mr. Baynes paid his debt to Mr. Harrelson and renamed the store Baynes General Store. Since the store’s beginning, people of all ages have come to buy groceries, snacks, drinks, tobacco, clothes, and other necessities. If they didn’t have cash, they would trade something they had, such as livestock, milk, or eggs.
Because the store is located in a sparsely populated rural area, it has always been a place where people gather for both formal and informal meetings. In the old days, a Caswell County judge and bailiff held court in the store once a week. People came and continue to come to gossip, shoot the breeze, discuss local and national politics, or just hang out with friends and acquaintances. When we arrived at the store, there were numerous cars parked on the side and in front, people going in and out, and others chatting on the porch.
We pulled in and parked our car on the side of the store. As we got out, a man named Wallace, who was sitting on the porch steps was looking at our Wisconsin license plate. Then the following conversation took place:
Wallace: “You from Beaver Dam?” (a city northeast of Madison, Wisconsin)
Joann: “No.”
Wallace: “Oh, you from Harken?”
Joann: “Pardon me?”
Wallace: “You from Harken? I have friends that live by Harken Marsh.
Joann: “Oh, Horicon Marsh? No, we’re from Madison.”
I mean no disrespect by this, but I knew our conversation might be a little challenging due to his southern accent. So I’m going to respectfully put the phonetic spelling on a couple of words in this story so you see what I mean.
We told Wallace that we had been seeing plowed fields with raised rows of dirt and we were wondering what was being planted there. He told us they were getting ready to plant tobacco. Some farms were planting as much as 150 acres of tobacco. Tobacco is a very labor-intensive crop, so we commented on the amount of work involved in that.
As we talked with Wallace, his friends, Irving and Lawrence sat nearby listening. Well, Lawrence mostly listened. Irving, on the other hand, gave Wallace a hard time.
We told them that we grew up on a dairy farm. Wallace said there wasn’t much corn being raised in “Colina” (Carolina); it was mostly tobacco. Then he said that he had taken a trip once to Chicago and didn’t see any corn. But then he drove west of Chicago and it was “all corn, corn, corn.”
Wallace started talking about “the stuff made from corn that sweetens soda pop.” He said he couldn’t remember what it was called, but it was some kind of syrup. Well, that got Irving going and the following conversation took place:
Irving: “Fructose corn syrup. If you don’t know something, ask somebody.”
Wallace: “So you’re from Madison? Is that the capital of Wisconsin?”
Irving: “Yeah, you ought to know that from the 5th grade.”
Joann: “Are we playing, ‘Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?”
Irving: “Well, Wallace only went as far as the 6th grade.”
Even though there was a lot of talking and laughing going on, Wallace’s faithful companion, Buster, relaxed at Wallace’s feet.
Wallace: “I went to Milwaukee once.”
Irving: “I don’t like big cities.”
Wallace: “I went to New York City in 1957 and I would never go back. I don’t know why anyone would want to go to New York City. There’s too many “payple” (people).
Irving: “Well, if you didn’t like it in 1957, it’s 150 times worse now!”
Wallace said he had been a farmer his whole life and that he was planning to raise about 20 acres of tobacco that year. Then he tried talking us into traveling about 12 miles off of our planned route to go see his tobacco barns, which he said were kind of run-down. So, we politely passed on his offer and told these gentlemen how much we enjoyed visiting with them. They told us to have a good trip.
When you take a trip to another state, I encourage you to do some shunpiking on the backroads and to visit places like Baynes General Store. You never know who you’ll meet or what you’ll learn.
Happy Shunpiking!
Joann
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Thanks for this fun story about your visit to Baynes General Store. Reminds me of what is probably happening every day at Gilbertson's General Store in Keyeser just a few miles from us! We haven't stopped in there for years. I think we may need to pay a visit soon!
ReplyDeletePhyllis, yes, you should stop in and see Kenny while he still has the store. He's getting up there in age. I have some great photos from there. Maybe I'll blog about it in the future.
DeleteJoanne,
ReplyDeleteThank you! Hope all is well. I'll consider looking it up next time I'm in "Colina". Lehner reunion this weekend in Plain.
God bless you - John
John (and Jean), you should stop at places like this when you have the chance. Baynes General Store was up for auction in May of this year and there was a chance that everything would be sold off and the store closed. Fortunately, it appears that someone bought it and it is continuing on as the general store it has always been.
DeleteYou brought back some pleasant summer time memories of my childhood in "Colina" and a summer when I was 16 when I stayed near Woodruff which had a General Store. :)
ReplyDeleteStephanie, I'm so glad you have great childhood memories like we do! Thanks for reading and sharing some of your memories.
Delete