Rural community hopes to save Middlebrook Country Store

Small country stores dot the landscape throughout America as reminders of a slower time before super grocery stores and mega shopping centers. To rural communities, they are still an essential part of life as demonstrated by the residents in southern Augusta County:

After sitting empty for eighteen months, a tiny Shenandoah Valley village is coming together to breathe new life into its historic Middlebrook General Store.

The weathered white building, which sits facing Rt. 252 in this rural farming community with acres of farm land surrounded by the Blue Ridge and Appalachian mountains, was renovated and opened by its current owners who spent more than $100,000 updating the interior and adding a patio overlooking a meandering stream. After running it for several years, they closed the store in September 2009 after purchasing a Bed and Breakfast in Yorktown, and it’s been sitting vacant since that time.

Read more about how citizens have joined together to buy the store and run it at my Washington Examiner post.