Put Money Here

The piece I posted about the lake place, together with a Smithsonian article about small towns, set me to thinking about the character of small towns. They are not all Mayberry, and most of us would go batty after a long spell there. That said, there is a quirky charm.

Hernando, the nearest town to the lake, got a stop light back in the 70's. Soon there was the "Stoplight Bar and Grill," next to the "Stoplight Bait and Tackle and Live Worms." It was a matter of civic pride. "Gone Fishing" was the sign on the door of any store if the owner took the day off.

Weekends are for fishing, so most stores are closed. Book store, hardware store, restaurant, even the police station all operate Monday through Friday. There was a Kwik-King, if your idea of groceries is a six-pack of HoHo's and a stick of jerky. They didn't have a rack of paperback books, what they called "reading books," just Auto Trader and such.

Signs are the mark of a real small town. Often more than one business has to share space or at least a sign. "Ceramic Tile and Wig Styling" was right next to "Guns, Ammo, and Notary Public." We liked "Leonardo's Pizza, Hoagies, and First Baptist Church." My favorite was a sign on a card table by the side of the road in front of a house with a few peach trees in the yard. There were sacks of peaches marked $1, $3, and $5. In front of the sacks was a cardboard box with a sign that said "Put Money Here." I did, and there was probably $50 there. The owner had probably just gone fishing.