This location near the Crawford-Upson County line was once a settlement known as Hickory Grove, undoubtedly one of several with that name in Georgia. Charlie Reeves purchased a house here in 1947 and transformed it into a combination store and residence, and part of it was located in Crawford, and part in Upson. Billy Powell, writing in Knoxville’s Georgia Post, called it the Plum-Nearly Store, for the fact that part of it was “plum nearly” in one county and the other part “plum nearly” in the other. When US-80 was widened, it was torn down and replaced by this structure, circa 1960. This one is located entirely in Upson County.
Though the store is no longer open, Mr. Reeves’s family still maintains it.
You can tell it once had gas pumps, as evidenced by the concrete pad in front, almost obscured by weeds in this photo.
Small stores like this were once the lifeblood of their communities, as most folks “back then” didn’t own cars, and “grocery stores” like we have today did not exist.
They also served as “social centers,” much like churches and the local high school football games did: places where people met and interacted, keeping up with local goings-on, etc.
It was a completely different world when stores like this were the mainstays of their communities. Nobody knew it then; only with the passage of time have we come to see how special they really were.
Thank you for highlighting this location. I have seen many like it, during my travels over the years. They have many stories to tell, if we only know how to listen.