In
the heart of the Dunn's Rock/Connestee Community where Island Ford Road
meets the Greenville Highway stands the small complex of buildings known
for many years as "Powell's Store." Powell's Store was a general store
with dry goods, food, gasoline and the most basics. Folks could buy overalls,
shoes, groceries, coal oil, soda pop and the most delicious candy delivered
by Pisgah Candy Company and displayed front and center when you entered
the double front door. The school bus picked up and dropped off kids who
found shelter there. The Transylvania County Bookmobile's twice-weekly
visits were festive occasions for picking up reading materials and for
visiting. Dr. Hill, the veterinarian, made his vaccination visits there
for community pets. The local mail man and the Greenville mail truck driver,
as well as locals, tourists and loggers, made their morning breaks there,
further occasion for news in this pre-television era. During the summer,
an occasional camper from Rockbrook Camp next door would sneak by for
a candy bar or a touch with the outside world.
With the demise of Mr. Powell the store was closed for a while and then
was re-opened by Albert Reece who operated it for many years as a grocery
store. By that time, the demographics had changed and people drove into
town to chain stores or big grocery stores for shopping. But if you wanted
to stop for a cool soda pop, or a loaf of bread and slow down and visit,
the store provided that place.
Albert
retired and Janet (Compton) Robertson opened The Farm Country Store to
sell fresh produce from the farm she and her husband Dale ran. Other local
items were sold and the old sense of a gathering place was recaptured.
After Janet's popular, but brief, stay Ardria W. Hofmann, who owned the
property, suffered failing health and the property was purchased by the
Dodson Family for a home for Mud Dabber's Pottery and Crafts.
John
and Sybil Dodson ran the first Mud Dabber's at the Old Distillery building
just up the road for some years while John also taught pottery for Rockbrook
Camp, the office of which is also housed in the Old Distillery. Then Mud
Dabber's 2 was opened in Haywood County at Balsam, near the Blue Ridge
Parkway, run by Brandon (Brad) Dodson, son of John and Sybil. Now with
the new location for Mud Dabbers in a renovated Powell's Store complex,
another Dodson son, also named John, and his wife Carol, set up an expanded
space for all forms of clay works. Over many months, the Dodsons worked
to preserve the old buildings and their original character. The main,
central store is now the Mud Dabber's gallery and studio. The Dodsons
discovered and renovated one of the original heavy oak sales counters
and use it for the center work/sales desk. The old half glass double entrance
doors did not meet modern building codes so they preserved them by making
them into a singlewide door. The original floor was sanded and renewed
and the old cinder block exterior repainted to a lively color. Neighbors
planted flowers around the periphery and aged wood from the Earl Parker
lumber shed was used for the inner walls. This respect for the history
and the past meaning of the store in the community is at the core of their
renewal efforts. Several local potters sell their crafts at Mud Dabber's.
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