Places to go and things to see by Gypsy Bev

Posts tagged ‘general store’

Relax at Rocky Fork Ranch Resort

Adventure Awaits!

Stop at their Ranch House for registration and General Store.

Enjoy the outdoors when camping at Rocky Fork Ranch Resort near Kimbolton while still enjoying the conveniences for a relaxing and comfortable vacation. You’ll have a great time regardless of the weather with their many indoor and outdoor events.

Sharrie Yarber, manager, and Aaron Johnson, asst. manager, enjoy greeting campers.

This member based campground at 74978 Broadhead Road, Kimbolton has been part of the Travel Resorts of America Family since 1982. It’s the kind of place where neighbors become friends, and friends become like family. Many might remember camping there in the past when it was called Grand Haven or even before that Bucket Hill.

Their new General Store has just about everything a camper might need…and then some.

When you enter the campground, first stop will be the Ranch House which is headquarters for registration and also their General Store. The store has been moved and reorganized this year and includes just about everything you would need for your camping experience. They also have an ice cream, pizza, and sandwich sh

Cabins in the woods are the perfect place for relaxation.

Camping can take several forms at Rocky Fork as they have over 200 campsites and 101 lodging facilities. There’s rustic camping, RV sites, and cabins on 850 acres of wooded and rolling hills. Explore the territory by taking a hike as you enjoy the view through beautiful woods with streams scattered throughout if you like going on foot. Or perhaps you would rather explore the area on horseback as they have a dozen horses that enjoy following the trails through the area.

Indoor and outdoor swimming pools are available for guests.

On a rainy day, you can enjoy their clubhouse with indoor pool, gym, hot tub, adult lounge, pool tables, and game room. A laundromat has been added with all new machines for campers’ convenience.

Miniature golf is a fun family activity.

Guests can find entertainment and excitement in a wide variety of outdoor activities. There’s a golf driving range, paint ball at the Gun Slinging Corral, miniature golf, tennis courts, Native American Pow-wows, and guided nature walks. Let the children enjoy several play areas scattered throughout the campgrounds.

Their five acre lake is a great place for boating, fishing, and relaxing.

Their catch and release 5-acre lake paints a serene scene with a lighthouse built from an old stone house on the property on one side. Across the way is a friendly gazebo with a relaxing swing. Here people can use kayaks, canoes, or pedal boats to enjoy the calm waters.

A Nature Center has many cool animals like Rex their bearded dragon. He loves fresh greens and likes to stretch his legs in the planetarium. Other animals the children enjoy are Curly – a curly tailed lizard, rabbits, turtles, and fish.

Rocky Fork Rodeo gives youngsters a great chance to experience rodeo events at an early age.

Rocky Fork Rodeo, the oldest competitive youth rodeo in Ohio, is organized by the Rocky Fork Rodeo Company and takes place ten times a year in the Rocky Fork Ranch arena. It has been a source of fun, learning, competition, and a stepping stone to larger rodeo competitions since the 1990s. The rodeo season runs May – September rain or shine.

They wish to preserve the sport of rodeo while teaching sportsmanship, honest competition, and safety measures. There are over twenty events including bull, steer, and calf riding, team roping, goat tying, barrels, and flags. A small membership fee is required to participate and receive prizes. Youth ages two to nineteen by January 1st are welcome to take part. Public is welcome to watch this event.

Salt Fork Shooting Club held a Hot Shots Youth Team Trap Shoot.

Salt Fork Shooting Club is a private club organized in 1992 and has a clubhouse at Rocky Fork Ranch with target, trap, and archery ranges available for all Salt Fork Shooting Club members. Anyone interested can join their group for a reasonable fee.

The group is NRA affiliated and encourages organized rifle, shotgun, and pistol shooting among members of the community. They stress the important of knowledge of gun safety, proper care of guns, and improved marksmanship. They offer planned shooting events May through October.

Rocky Fork Resort’s mascot, Rocky the Raccoon, appeared at a recent Home Schow.

By cooperating with other organizations such as those listed above, Rocky Fork Ranch hopes to give back to the community. They also participate in many local events to promote their resort.

Aloha! Hula Dancers entertained campers at a recent Luau Weekend.

While visiting, I had the opportunity to witness one of their many exciting evening affairs with Hula Dancers from the big island of Hawaii. Volcano Choy and his family take you on a journey to the tropics. Volcano provides the vocal and instrumental music while their six daughters dance various hulas, which were taught to them by their mother, a former hula dancer. A young son demonstrates the fire dance. It’s a real family affair.

Campers enjoyed participating in hula lessons and became part of Rocky Fork Hula Troop.

Campers joined in the fun by participating in hula lessons for young and old on what their leader Volcano called Rocky Fork Hula Troop. Special events like this happen nearly every weekend like Christmas in July, Water Wars, Watermelon Crawl, or Dog Daze of Summer.

The beautiful old trees at Rocky Fork Ranch make being surrounded by nature a real pleasure. Many come from the city for a breath of fresh air. In the evening, the smell of the campfires relaxes the mind.

To learn more about Rocky Fork Ranch Resort visit their Facebook page. Call 888-829-6341 for more information or to make reservations.

Category:

Back Roads, Family Fun, Just for Fun, Nature, Ohio, Uncategorized

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Founder of Piggly Wiggly Built Pink Palace

Piggly Wiggly pink palace

The Pink Palace was built in the 1920s by Clarence Saunders, founder of Piggly Wiggly.

   If you want to impress your friends and neighbors, building a pink marble palace might be one possibility. That is what Clarence Saunders decided to do back in the 1920s.

Piggly Wiggly trucks

Piggly Wiggly had their own delivery trucks.

   Clarence Saunders began working in Owen’s general store at the age of ten by cleaning, oiling, and trimming the kerosene lamps. When he was fourteen,  Owens hired him permanently at a salary of $4 per month plus room and board. A few years later, he received a job at another general store for $10 a month and worked there until he was 17.

Piggly Wiggly store

This is a replica of the interior of an original Piggly Wiggly.

   After working in the general store all those years, Saunders thought of ways to make it more customer-friendly. As a result, Saunders became the founder and sole owner of a new kind of general store. He wanted his store to be unique so named it Piggly Wiggly.

Piggly Wiggly Soup display

You could pick a can off the shelf all by yourself.

   This was the first true self-service grocery store. Previously, the clerk in the store retrieved the items for the buyer and brought them to the counter.  Now, the buyer entered through a turnstile and went down the aisles picking up the things they wanted and brought them to the counter to check out their total price.  By  1921, he had 615 grocery stores in forty states and many more franchises.

Piggly Wiggly Saunders

Clarence Saunders founded Piggly Wiggly.

   Saunders chose to use the fortune he had amassed through Wall Street stock to build a lovely home in Memphis, Tennessee. He purchased 155 acres across the street from the Memphis Country Club. He called his new home Cla-Le-Clare to honor his children Clay, Lee, and Amy Clare.  Since it was being built of pink Georgia marble, the Memphians called it the Pink Palace.

Pink Palace lobby

The Grand Lobby contains restored Burton Callicott murals.

   Sadly, his good fortune on Wall Street did not last. With only the exterior of the house finished, it was sold at public auction in 1925 and plans were to demolish it. However, the Garden Corporation stepped in and had the palace donated to the city with hopes of turning it into a museum.

Pink Palace star

Early controls for their planetarium are on display.

   A group of high school boys formed the Memphis Astronomical Society in 1953. They gathered weekly to look at the stars from the lawn. The city wanted to construct a planetarium and it was finally decided to put it in the Pink Palace. Due to a lack of funds, the high school boys ran the planetarium on the weekends for many years.

Pink Palace shows

Interesting films are shown on a large 3-D screen.

   The Mansion Theater has shows running throughout the day on a large 3-D screen. When visiting, the Dinosaur movie projected creatures flying into the audience and walking close by. Apollo II was to be shown later in the day.

Pink Palace General Store

Take a walk through an old general store where you were waited on personally.

   Explore an old general store like Clarence worked in as a boy. Then visit his first Piggly Wiggly store and see the improvements. His advertisement contained stories like these:

   A customer wants 5 pounds of granulated sugar put up in a cloth bag. She is in a hurry so she runs into Piggly Wiggly and helps herself. She pays the cashier and away she goes.

Piggly Wiggly circus

Enjoy a moving miniature circus in the Clyde Parke Circus Gallery.

   Upstairs the Clyde Parke Miniature Circus filled an entire room. This is a 3D model of a real circus done to 1:12 scale. Parke carved each of the figures from white pine he salvaged from packing crates. There are animals, clowns, a lady on a trapeze, and an audience of 1500 people. He donated the circus so people would remember “when the circus was the biggest show in town.”

Piggly Wiggly bear

This polar bear attracts plenty of attention.

   A large male polar bear from Alaska was donated to the museum forty years ago for educational purposes by Dr. Harold Misner. The bear has been a popular presence at many weddings in the Pink Palace. When the Memphis Grizzlies make the playoffs, he is lit with blue lights.

   The Pink Palace captures the history of not only Piggly Wiggly but that of early natural history in “A Walk Through Time” and the history of the early days of the South. Take time to visit their theater, have lunch at Metro Eats, and take home a memory from the Museum Store.

   “There’s Lively Learning for All at Pink Palace Museum.”

The Pink Palace is located at 3050 Central Avenue, Memphis TN. Your GPS should come in handy to find this location.

 

 

 

Category:

Art, History, Museums, Tennessee, Uncategorized

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End of an Era: Morrison’s Store Sycamore Valley, Ohio

Morrison General Store in Sycamore Valley, Ohio

Morrison’s General Store in Sycamore Valley, Ohio

Driving down the long steep Creighton Hill to Sycamore Valley, thoughts of years gone by began to creep into the mind. At the bottom of the hill in a beautiful tree-filled valley sat the little town of Sycamore Valley, Ohio. Located in Monroe County, this small town has a rich history centered around their meeting place, Morrison’s General Store.

Shelves at Morrison Store

Shelves at Morrison Store

Built back in the 1880’s, this was the supply center for most of the people of that valley. No other towns were close by so at Morrison’s General they found not only groceries for the family, but also feed for their livestock at an adjacent feed mill. Included on the shelves were everything needed for the home, farm, and even boots and hats for the farmer. When looking through the old ledgers for the store, total sales for the month of December, 1943 totaled $1,429.32. An unusual sign on the scales inside summed up the philosophy of the store:

We have no quarrel with those who sell for less They know what their merchandise is worth.

Warm Morning Meeting Place

Warm Morning Meeting Place

Even though there was a gas light at the entrance, inside the store was dark and gloomy cheered only by the friendly folks of the Valley. Many remembered coming to the store two or three times a week to get everything they needed for their family. No matter if you needed eggs and cheese or nuts and bolts, this was the original one-stop shopping center. One man said he came from the age of three to the store where his mother met with some other ladies for quilting. This was a time when folks would gather around the old Warm Morning wood stove, prop up their feet and share the latest Valley news.

Sycamore Valley Post Office

Sycamore Valley Post Office

Sycamore Valley Post Office

Sycamore Valley Post Office

The store here in Sycamore Valley also served as a one-pump Ashland gas station as well as the post office, which served over 100 addresses at its peak. Inside you can still see the post office boxes where mail was kept for pick-up. While there Morris, the last postmaster, told about his 34 years running the post office. Morris’ dad owned the store previous to that time.

Times were rough in the Valley and keeping the store open was a difficult encounter during the best of times. Finally, the store was closed but the post office continued for several more years. Morris did sell candy, pop and a few small items until it finally closed in 2008 when the government shut down many small post offices.

Old Bridge Abutment

Old Bridge Abutment

Across the narrow road, this concrete marker was the vertical support for a bridge that went across the creek. The store owner kept his cattle on the other side of the little creek and the bridge was firectly across the road in front of the store door.

Leaving Sycamore Valley, long time residents of the area told stories about going back up the steep Creighton Hill to the ridge top. When someone was wanting to buy a car back even in the early days, Creighton Hill was the test site.  If it could make it up the hill, then the car was worthy of being purchased. The speed with which it climbed the hill determined its price! This was one of the original test strips for automobiles.

At times it is interesting to explore what used to be, but we are certainly lucky to have the improvements that we have today – electricity and indoor plumbing come instantly to mind.

Sycamore Valley can be found in Southeastern Ohio on the perfect Gypsy Road Trip. After leaving I-77 in Ohio at exit 25, you will enjoy a scenic route of twists and turns. Better get out your road map or GPS (if it can get a signal) to find the way.

Category:

History, Ohio, Uncategorized

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