LAST CALL FOR WESTMINSTER, SC (Cheri)

Do you remember OLD-time stores, with screen doors that slammed close after you?

This is a close-up view of an ad placed on the screen door presumably removed from the general store formerly operated by the England family, in Westminster, SC.

Avid readers will remember that Mark and I tried to go to the General Store Museum in Westminster, SC last year, but messed up and arrived when it was closed.

My friend Leslie is a descendant of the historic owners of both the general store and Moon's Drug Store.  This is one of the Englands, who owned the general store:

​Moon's is still operating.  The Museum officially memorializes the general store, but you also find some older Moon's items there:

Remember when these plastic numbers were used to note changing prices?

I'm not sure I had ever seen war ration books:

Here are a bunch of things that you don't see any more:

I liked how the Museum (literally) framed the produce label from a local apple farmer's wares:

Then for the weird stuff:

I suspect that this was contributed by a community member, and wasn't actually sold by either store, since it says it was distributed by Sears Roebuck and Co.

What was it used for??  You'd have to have a truly compelling reason to drink "Beef, Iron & Wine" daily!

Maybe the mom on this needle holder had a bit too much of the above; she looks a little too excited for just stitching with her daughter.

We saw some machinery that we didn't really comprehend:

and a typewriter that only became apparent when we saw the label:

Typewriters and sewing machines are both items that required a lot of revision before the versions that we use today became standard.  (Oh, right, we don't even use typewriters "today.")

Before I finish this post, I wanted to highlight somebody else's experience visiting the Museum.  RandomConnections.com is another husband-and-wife blog that focuses primarily on their travels.  He visited the Grocery Store Museum during the Covid lockdown, and had an interesting time.  I think Tom's favorite item at the Museum was also Mark's:  the wheelless Toro Flymo 19 lawnmower.  I'll let you read about his visit and the Flymo at their site.

I'm going to reach out to that couple.  Their About Us page indicates that we have a lot in common.  She's even a quilter!

In closing, I have no reason for including this picture other than I really appreciate the visual texture on old stuff: