The Corner Store

The Corner Store. Spotsylvania Court House National Historic District. , In March of 1909, George W. Perry acquired the corner store. George was born in Spotsylvania in 1857. He was the son of John M. Perry and Martha Virginia Chewning. In 1885, he married Martha Thompkins in Richmond. She died two years later and he married Lillian Blackley (1869-1944) in 1886. They would have three children. George was vice-president of the Spotsylvania telephone Company, and President of the Board of Public Roads of Spotsylvania. Lillian served as Post Mistress of the Sunlight Post Office on Brock Road from 1894-1917. Upon his death in 1920, his son Scott G. Perry (1893-1963) purchased the store. After the devastating fire in 1930, Scott would rebuild and operate a gas station until his passing., The "Corner Store" was purchased in June of 1965 by Henry Floyd Chewning (left). Chewning was born on May 20, 1924 in the Livingston District of Spotsylvania. He was one of four children born to James Harvey Chewning and Lydia "Lottie" Ann Wheeler. After graduation from Spotsylvania High School, he enlisted in the Navy in 1943. He would serve in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. He married Evelyn Thistle in Newfoundland and they would have four children. The store would change back to a grocery and general merchandise store., Chewning was active in local community service as Governor of the Fredericksburg Lodge 1655, Loyal Order of the Moose and membership in the American Legion and Lions Club International. He died suddenly of a heart attack in May, 1970 and rests today at Sunset Memorial Gardens. The store remains in the hands of the Chewning family today., [Captions:] , Following the fire in 1930, Scott Perry rebuilt the "Corner Store" into a filling station and auto repair., Circa 1905 view of Perry's store (right). The store not only sold farm supplies, dry goods, and food, but fine furniture to include pianos., The absence of fuel pumps helps to pinpoint the fact that the age of the automobile had yet to arrive. In the left is "Courtland's" barn., Perry's store circa 1920's. The three men at the gas pump are unknown. Could they be Clarence, Malcolm and Scott, the three sons of George?, Following the fire in 1930, Scott Perry rebuilt the "Corner Store" into a filling station and auto repair., The automobile in the photo appears to be a Ford Model 1920 coupe. Note the Texaco sign on the building at the roof line. Texaco started selling gas in the U.S. in 1913., The Sanborn Fire Insurance Company produced this map of the Courthouse in 1930. Note the detail on the store in the insert enlargement.