Old Country Store (then and now)

[Mike Buckley]

That rings so many bells with experiences I've had. It must be the corporate training programme they send them on.

My wife repeatedly explains to me that peoples' use of a cell phone to read and respond to email is largely to blame; they don't pay nearly the same attention to details when using a cell phone as when using a computer. As an example, when using a computer they are often more focused on one task at a time. When using a cell phone, their attention is often divided among several tasks.

[Digital]

Consider using a different approach with Coca Cola. I recommend explaining that the building and newly repainted advertisement are being discussed with great interest in a worldwide forum. Ask them for anything they know about the history of the advertisement on the side of the building, the building itself, its owners, etc., etc. Ask them for anything they know about how the newly painted advertisement came to be, who they hired to paint it, when it was painted, why it was painted without the rest of the building being painted, etc., etc. Ask them for contact information about the painter they hired and their contact relating to the building. Advise them that if policy prevents them from providing that information, ask them to pass along your contact information to those people with the hope that they will reach out to you.

Mike, thanks for your suggestions in your post. I purposely did not respond to it yesterday, since I wanted to give your comments some thought. I agree with you somewhat about asking when the first Coca-Cola advertisement was painted on this store; I totally agree that asking if the Coca-Cola company knows anything about the store, and its owners would be beneficial. This is keeping with the main premise of this thread. However, your suggestions about "who" (what particular painter) restored the advertisement, I do not believe is central to this query. I am more interested in "who" initiated the action to restore it. After some thought, I do see your point about the particular painter, since if named may give us more information about the "why", and "when" of the renovation. Regarding the "when", based on the property tax records the building was renovated in 2015; however the photograph on the property tax website, of the old store, exhibited the other side of the building, not the side where the Coca-Cola advertisement was displayed. One could reasonably argue that the advertisement was not repainted at the same time that the other renovations were made. In reference to the "why" the rest of the building was not repainted, I do not know. Based on two sources the structure was renovated to keep it standing; however this answer raises more questions in that the restoration-to keep it standing- does not depend on the Coca-Cola advertisement being restored. As stated in an earlier post, a friend of mine, who once worked in advertising, speculated the Caldwell family may be receiving compensation from the Coca-Cola company for allowing the company to advertise their product on the side of the store. In my opinion, based on the store's location, and the amount of traffic that flows past the store daily, makes it a prime location to advertise a product. This leads me to believe that the family contacted the Coca-Cola company to initiate the restoration of the advertisement, once the family decided to renovate. Of course, it should be duly noted, that this is all speculation at this point. I still need facts.
Mike, I will do my best to query the Coca-Cola company with all the pertinent questions raised in your post.
Finally, I have had a long day so please forgive me for rambling.

Bruce (Sleuth)

[Jeff S]

I haven't read every single entry in this thread (although I have visited here 3 times and have read nearly all of them) so if I am repeating someone else' theory, please forgive.

My theory is that this is being rehabbed with the intention of turning into what is being called a "tiny home" in the U.S. - defined as homes with roughly 200 - 400 square feet of living space. The revitalization of the Coca Cola sign might be an appreciation of nostalgia to a long lost era.

I suspect that the work is incomplete at this point and more will be done to make it livable.

That's my 2 cents. I'll be interested in learning what your "journalistic" efforts turn up.

[Mike Buckley]

However, your suggestions about "who" (what particular painter) restored the advertisement, I do not believe is central to this query.

You're correct, of course, about that. The reason to learn about the painter is that he or she is yet another contact who may in turn lead to other contacts that finally help you obtain the answers to your questions. The more people who are directly or even indirectly involved in the project that you get to communicate with, the better chance you have of finding those answers.

[Digital]

Tomorrow, I plan to return to the Carroll Co. Clerk's office to pore through their "Grantee" books dating circa 1920 to see what I can find.
In the last two days, I have talked to a new source. What this source related, if I understood him correctly, may make contacting the Coca- Cola company somewhat of a moot point. Before I let you guys/gals know what this source told me, I want to talk to him again to make sure I fully understood what he told me. If I did understand correctly what he related, it does not necessarily rule out contacting the Coca-Cola company; however it adds a new element to the renovation story.
I am a little uncomfortable in pursuing the renovation part of this story since I am looking at the history of this store as my main line of inquiry. Although the whys of the renovation are important, it is only a portion of my main goal.
Having said this, I talked to another source who may seek information from a someone who lives on McKenzie Bridge Road, and who know some, if not all of the Caldwell grandchildren. This may be considered as a second hand source; however at this point in my quest I can use all the help I can get. At this point any information, that I can later verify, will be of assistance.
It is dawning on me that if I can enlist the assistance of life long residences, these sources will be in a better position to gather information than I can. Along this line of thought is that I can send the CiC website to any potentially good source until I am blue in the face, and they will still view my motives as suspicious. As Ralph once told me: "you're an outsider". This is true now, and will be true 100 years from now (if I live that long). I think this view may be "baked" into the Southern culture. This was certainly true when I lived in Eastern Kentucky. Although I was from the same state, I may as well have been from Jupiter, as far as the people from Eastern Kentucky were concerned. Please do not get me wrong, the people in that particular region are good people. If you accepted them, they would "bend over backwards" to help you. However, I would always be an outsider.
Even though it has been over 30 years since I left that particular region of Kentucky, to this day I still think fondly of the people I met there.

Bruce (Sleuth)

[Cantab]

I am a little uncomfortable in pursuing the renovation part of this story since I am looking at the history of this store as my main line of inquiry. Although the whys of the renovation are important, it is only a portion of my main goal.

Bruce, when I was still working, I on occasion had cause to do serious archival research. One of the aspects I enjoyed was often new potential lines of inquiry would keep opening. At some point you have to draw a line in the sand and say enough is enough, but if you're enjoying the sleuthing, I'd suggest that you not be hesitant about pursuing what appear to be secondary lines of inquiry. They may well turn up something of real interest.

[Jimr1961]

Wow, just spent two hours reading this story. Sign me up!

It does not surprise me at all that you are seen with suspicion. People of small community and long history have survived by taking care of each other. In the history of humankind, outsiders have been looked upon with suspicion at best.

What jumps in my head regarding just enough renovation to keep it intact is a billboard. It may have been transformed into a billboard. Perhaps I'm stating the ridiculously obvious, but that I'm good at.

Bruce, I admire your tenacity. Tread carefully, many families just assume keep aspects of the past well buried.

EDIT:
Or, perhaps, there is a non-disclosure agreement involved regarding a lease between a very large corporation and a family property.

[Digital]

I returned today to the Carroll Co. Clerk's office. Located a deed where a W.C. Caldwell purchased some land from a Mrs. A. M. Caldwell Pope in July, 1922. Although this was interesting, it was not the deed I was looking for since it was not the target property I was seeking information on. The cutoff date for this particular "Grantee" book was 1934. Attempted to find a "Grantee" book for 1935 on. I could not locate a "Grantee" book that included the letters Cal... The book started with Cas... It was time to call in the cavalry.
A different person assisted me this time. With the aid of the Carroll Co. Tax website, she located the deed that from all appearances is the deed for the property that I was looking for. She was kind enough to photocopy it for me. I now owe the Clerk's office one dollar for the copy.
While drinking my sweet tea at Applebee's this evening, I started studying the legal language on this deed. If I am reading this deed correctly, it has effectively shattered some of my former concepts on the history of this said store. I am going to seek assistance from some trusted allies before proceeding further. In short, I am not going to reveal anything to anybody until I know I am interpreting the language of this deed correctly.
Finally, the last I heard from the University of West Georgia's history department is that my contact did locate the former graduate student's contact information. She is using that contact information to have this said grad student contact yours truly. It remains to be seen if the contact information is valid. If it is, it is a possibility that this student is not interested in contacting me. Regardless, as of this writing, I have not heard anything.

Bruce ("Super Sleuth")

[Mike Buckley]

The worst-case scenario is really great: even if you don't get conclusive answers to your questions, you have so generously provided all of us the step-by-step scenario of everything that you have done to try to make that happen. This has been one of the most fascinating threads I have seen. Having said that, I'm still not giving up hope on the possibility that you do indeed obtain answers to your most important questions if not all of them.

[Digital]

The worst-case scenario is really great: even if you don't get conclusive answers to your questions, you have so generously provided all of us the step-by-step scenario of everything that you have done to try to make that happen. This has been one of the most fascinating threads I have seen. Having said that, I'm still not giving up hope on the possibility that you do indeed obtain answers to your most important questions if not all of them.

Mike, thank you so much for your kind comments. It is readers like you that keep me motivated to find the answers about this old country store.

Bruce

[Digital]

I want to give you some more more information about the layout of the old country store: there is a road called Mote Road, that is located directly across from the old store. If you are headed east on this road (towards the store), you will come to the end of this road where it meets Highway 113 ( the road from Carrollton to Temple). Now for people traveling on Mote Road, in order to continue east, using McKenzie Bridge Road, you have to turn right on Highway 113, and then practically make an immediate left hand turn on McKenzie Bridge Road. For persons traveling west on McKenzie Bridge Road, and wish to continue headed west on Mote Road, you must take a right on Highway 113, and then almost take an immediate left on Mote Road. I plan to take a photo of this road in the near future to give you all a better sense of where this road is situated.
I had one of my "allies" study the deed I obtained yesterday at the Carroll Co. Clerk's office. He, and I are in agreement with what the document relates so I feel comfortable in giving you what the deed revealed. A bit of a refresher: the old store was built in 1920 according to the Carroll Co. Tax records on their website. Here is where it gets interesting: apparently the Caldwell family did not own the land at the time this structure was built. I will tell you who I think owned it later in this post. My conclusion that W.C. Caldwell built this store is apparently wrong. Also, according to the Carroll Co. tax website the old homestead located on this same parcel of land was built in 1934. At that time, the Caldwells did not own the property that this structure was located on.
Unless W.C. Caldwell was leasing this tract of land, and built these structures with permission from the landowner-which I do not think was very feasible- these structures were built for someone else's use.
The deed further revealed that circa July, 1936 apparently the estate of one J.F. McKenzie sold this parcel of land to the Muse family. Caution: I need to verify this with the particular deed related to this transaction. The Deed book, and page number of this specific deed are cited in the deed related to the Caldwell purchase.
Circa June, 1942, Mrs. Mae Muse ("Obligor") sold to W.C. Caldwell ("Obligee") the tract of land where these two structures are located. What really caught my attention is that in describing the lot, the terminology "J.F. McKenzie's store house lot" was used. Note: I also need to verify that the McKenzie family owned are "target" property when the store was built in 1920.
The above information raises more questions than answers-why am I not surprised by this. In regards to whether J.F. McKenzie had some type of store at this location is certainly open to speculation. Early on in this endeavor I had one source inform me that there was a store at that location prior to the Caldwell store. On the other hand, one of my "operatives" informed me that the Caldwell store was the only store at that location. Given this latter information, the information from the Carroll Co. Tax office, and the information from the deed indicates that this structure set on this lot for approximately 22 years before Caldwell made a grocery store out of it. It was apparently built in 1920 for a reason, and it is hard for me to believe it was not used for some purpose. The language in the deed indicates that J.F. McKenzie used it as a store. This brings up another line of query-did the Muse family use the structure for some purpose?
You all may be wondering why I am not writing about the "Caldwell" homestead - I am not ready to go there , so to speak.
In a broader sense, this brings up a decision I need to make: do I stick with the history of the store when W.C. Caldwell, and his wife operated it, or do I also include the history of when J.F. McKenzie was its owner. I believe the answer to my question is contained in the title of this thread.
In a post a few days ago, I mentioned that I wanted to question one of my sources again (refer to post #165) to make sure I understood what he was relating to me. In essence, he related the store was renovated to keep it standing. This is the third source that has told me this. Although he did not give me a reason of why the Coca-Cola sign was repainted, he did say that anyone could have repainted the advertisement. From what he related to me, I surmised that you do not need the Coca-Cola company's permission to repaint one of their advertisements. As a side note, I still plan to query the Coca-Cola company about their policies in regards to old stores such as the Caldwells.

Finally, thank you Bruce (Cantab) for offering your legal expertise. I may need your knowledge in the future.

Bruce ("Bewildered" Sleuth)

[Mike Buckley]

Although he did not give me a reason of why the Coca-Cola sign was repainted, he did say that anyone could have repainted the advertisement. From what he related to me, I surmised that you do not need the Coca-Cola company's permission to repaint one of their advertisements.

Very early in the thread I mentioned that I didn't think Coca-Cola would authorize their advertisement being painted on a building in such a bad state. I still think that's the case but one never knows until the accurate information about that aspect of this property is confirmed. It would be interesting to learn whether Coca-Cola hired someone to repaint the advertisement as part of their project involving southern buildings. If they did, I would be willing to bet that they aren't happy that the rest of the building hasn't been renovated.

[Digital]

Very early in the thread I mentioned that I didn't think Coca-Cola would authorize their advertisement being painted on a building in such a bad state. I still think that's the case but one never knows until the accurate information about that aspect of this property is confirmed. It would be interesting to learn whether Coca-Cola hired someone to repaint the advertisement as part of their project involving southern buildings. If they did, I would be willing to bet that they aren't happy that the rest of the building hasn't been renovated.

Mike, thanks for commenting. This coming week will email Coke again asking hopefully more pointed questions about their policies when it comes to advertising on stores that are no longer operational. I do need more time to think on how to phrase my questions to them in order to increase my chances of getting accurate answers from the company. For what my opinion is worth, I do not think the Coca-Cola company had anything to do with repainting this sign.

Bruce

[Digital]

I forgot to post this yesterday - my apologizes. On Friday I received an email from my contact at the University of West Georgia's history department. She related that she has made three attempts to contact the graduate student, who as you may recall, was researching the Caldwell store. He dropped out of school before he finished his research. She apparently has had no success in reaching him. This appears to be a dead end at this point in time.
I will contact her after the Labor Day holiday to give her a big thanks for her efforts. She really went out of her way to do me a favor in her attempts to reach this former student.

Bruce ("Grateful" Sleuth)

[Digital]

In post #171 I stated: "I believe that the answer to my question is contained in the title of this thread." Although no one questioned me about this statement, I believe it was to ambiguous to say the least. To clarify this statement, I will tell you all that I am going to attempt to trace the history of this store back when it was built, apparently in 1920. Although the deed suggests that one J.F. McKenzie had it built on his property, I need to verify this with, as you can guess, the Carroll Co. Clerk's office.
Also, I have requested that a person who has legal experience review the deed giving the Caldwells ownership of said property along with the structures located on it. More on this particular action will be revealed later.


Bruce ("The Sleuth's" Sleuth)

[Digital]

Once again your "humble" sleuth has given you guys/gals information that is not accurate: Originally in post #171 I mentioned that Old Muse Road was directly across from the Caldwell store. I was wrong. The road directly across from the store is called Mote Road. I have edited post #171 to reflect the accurate information, eliminating any mention of Old Muse Road.
The rest of the information relating to McKenzie Bridge Road in relation to the Mote Road is accurate.
There is a road called Old Muse Road that does run into Highway 113 (Carrollton to Temple road) further north of the Caldwell store. My intent in informing you all about the Old Muse Road, and the McKenzie Bridge Road was to reflect the prominence of the McKenzie, and Muse families, and how both of these families (or individuals) fit into the history of the Caldwell store.
I, your "humble" sleuth offer my most sincere apologizes, and ask for your forgiveness. Rest assured that I will make a bigger mistake in the future, although I am not going to apologize for that at this time.


Bruce ("Humiliated" Sleuth)

[Mike Buckley]

Rest assured that I will make a bigger mistake in the future, although I am not going to apologize for that at this time.

Go ahead and get that apology out of the way.

[Digital]

A lot has been going on in the last few days: I have contacted the Carroll Co. Historical Society giving them up to date information, based on what I learned from the Caldwell deed. I am in hopes that with more information to go on, the Society may have something to share with me.
Tuesday evening I was at a pool league match. There is an individual who plays on this league who is from a very well established, and well known family. This individual is the head honcho, so to speak, of a wholesale food distributor. Apparently, this business has been in the family for over 100 years. Can you all guess where I am going with this? My initial approach to him did not lead to any information; although he was kind, he related that he had only headed this enterprise for approximately 30 years. In other words, he was not around when said store(s) may have been a customer(s) of his family's business. I may be wrong; however I believe that this wholesale food distributor is the only one of its kind, so to speak.
What I am planning to do is to approach this same individual again, and inform him in great detail what I am researching, and requesting that "if" his family's business did serve the McKenzie store (if there was a grocery there at one time), and/or the Caldwell store, could he (without violating any laws, ethics, or whatever) find out some information about one or both stores. What I am looking for is dates (i.e. when said store became operational, and when did it cease to operate). This endeavor may be a dead end; however I think it is worth a try.
Finally, a very kind individual (who I will not name for now) is assisting me in understanding the language of the Caldwell deed. In addition, in the light of what I just stated, I need to return to the Carroll Co. Clerk's office to seek further documentation related to the Caldwell deed, as well as documentation on the Muse, and McKenzie families.
The Clerk's office is becoming my new best friend.

Bruce ("Ex-Humiliated" Sleuth)

[Saorsa]

Old Country House #6


This photo probably will not come as surprise to you. This is the structure (if you can see it) to the left of the old country store.
I need to find out who lived in it, for how long, and how long has it been without residents. I have a lot more digging to do.

Mailbox #7


This is the mailbox that set in front of the old house. If you look closely at it, it has a caution tape wrapped around the pole supporting it. The tape is probably there to warn photographers from taking pictures of the mailbox-it did not work
The road to the left of the mailbox is looking north towards Temple.

Well (?) #8


I believe this is an old well. If you look closely at the photo, there is an concrete cap covering it. This well is just to the right of the old house very close to the road to Temple. From where this photo was taken, the road to Temple was just to my left.

Old Country Store (another view) #9


This is a view of the other side of the store. As you can see this side appears to be unfinished.

I work with my local historical society in maintaining some old building we have moved to a park. That 'unfinished' back looks like those boards were taken to help in the repairs to the front. That's not unusual. The new wood will not detract so much from the final look when completed.

[jonjdoe]

Please add me to the thread as well. I'm nosy, but not a farmer. I AM driving through Atlanta, later in the Fall, and would love to cast my own peepers on this strange restoration!
John (the nosy)