“Down The County” Country Stores

Middlesex County, Virginia has an area of approximately 211 square miles, and is made up of several unincorporated communities.

In this excerpt of our County Store Tour throughout Middlesex, we are going to focus on our “Down The County” Stores, meaning the southeast area of the county, including the areas of Deltaville, Amburg, and Hardyville.

S. J. Moore’s Store

Sammy Moore’s store in Sandy Bottom (now know as Deltaville) was one of the main general stores in that area. “The Sammy Moore store, where Hurd’s Hardware is now located today, was a real department store for those days. It employed the milliner and it carried hardware, harnesses, medicines, boat supplies, clothing, everything. One of the community’s few party-line telephones was upstairs, where Sammy fixed watches in his spare time.”

Tom Callis Store

The old Tom Callis store near Broad Creek is one of the only still standing of the original 11 Deltaville stores from which residents could buy food and other merchandise. “You could see almost every male you knew on Saturday nights gathered in these old Deltaville stores.”

L. C. Harrow’s Store

L. C. Harrow ran two general merchandise stores, one at Deltaville and another at Wilton. “A member of a well known family of the county, Mr. Harrow has served his section as a merchant. His stores were well lighted, clean and attractive in appearance and carried a diverse assortment of general merchandise,” the Sentinel stated. “His prices were so arranged that one obtained dollar for dollar value in every purchase . . . fair, square dealings, combined with high grade merchandise and first-class service made his business prosper.”

Other Country Stores Throughout The Deltaville Area

• Will Callis’s Store
• Moight Jackson’s Store
• Yates Store
• Deagle’s Store
• Kelly’s Store
• Dozier’s Store

Chowning, Larry S., Archie Soucek, and Pat DePina. Signatures in Time: a Living History of
Middlesex County, Virginia. Middlesex County, VA: Middlesex County, Virginia, 2012.

Chowning, Larry S. “Small Country Stores, Seafood Industry Were Booming in 1934.”
Southside Sentinel. July 26, 1990.

Norton, Randolph. “Reminiscenses of Deltaville.” Southside Sentinel. October 13, 1988.

Visit The Middlesex County Museum

When it is safe to do so, the Middlesex County Museum will re-open its doors to the public, at which point, we will invite you to visit our Country Store Collection. In the meantime, subscribe to our mailing list for more Country Store articles, and other local history.