Three men stand in front of the Pit Stop, a mini-market and auto repair in the village of Valley Head, Route 219, West Virginia.
“Yup, lots goin’ on here before the mine shut down,” says the tallest of the group, his head topped with a baseball cap, the ubiquitous head gear in rural West Virginia. He wears a brown canvas jump suit cinched loosely about the waist with a tired leather belt.
“Right over there,” he points, “Believe it or not, was a roller rink. Down there, a restaurant and a general store. All gone now.”
Only the Pit Stop and the US Post Office remain and about a dozen houses. The day is hot and so I peek into the Pit Stop considering a cold drink. Just then, a middle-age blond woman steps out, apparently the proprietor. She’s slim and wears shoulder length blond hair freshly blow-dried into a party-do. She frowns as she glances back inside the market.
“You would do better to use the outside soda machine—store’s not so nice inside.”
Valley Head looks much like many small towns in West Virginia, drained of life and commerce with the gradual exodus of coal mines and lumber mills. Some middle-sized towns are trying. Webster Springs’s early 20th century town hall sits high above the village still open for business. Not one but two Family Dollar Stores, a diner, a bakery and several other small businesses fill the town.
But for the handful open to customers just as many sit sad and shuttered. No wonder I have yet to find the likes of John’s General Store just over the border from Winchester, Virginia. We always dropped in on our way out camping in northern West Virginia over 20 years ago. There we could count on warm greetings, a few stories from three generations of Johns, and leave with a deli sandwich—ham and cheese on fluffy white bread, a pair of work gloves, some cold drinks, maybe a few tools and a coil of rope. These days, convenience stores partnering with chain gas stations—Marathon, the Par Mar Store—seem to have replaced most of the authentic Mom and Pop general stores. I may have better luck further south and west on my next trip but I fear the disappearance of many general stores may be a sign of the times.