The Mathews County Visitor and Information Center is in the store formerly known as Sibley's.
We used to buy seeds and stuff for the garden from Mr. Cecil Sibley back in the 1970s.
The store is now a wealth of local information and art.
(Even if you're a From Here, you should stop in. Lots and lots of good stuff.)
Next to Sibley's (aka the Visitor Center) is what used to be the Ben Franklin.
The old Ben Franklin is being renovated to become an annex of the library
(which used to be Farmers Bank of Mathews with a drive-through window).
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| The old Ben Franklin and the library |
I have such fond memories of Sibley's, the bank and the Ben Franklin.
Click here for a 2009 blog post about our Ben Franklin. Any mention of the store causes flash backs to the toy aisle dead center and all the plastic flowers on the right as you walked in.
I never could understand why anyone would want to purchase plastic flowers. Confession: I possess plastic flowers and keep them hidden away in the guest bathroom. And the corner of the dining room. I could write all night about how much I hate fake flowers, but the fact that I own some would make my argument meaningless. I'm pretty sure I bought them when I lived in the city, but why have I kept them if I sort of despise them? That we've spent this much time on fake flowers is troubling. Let's return to the blog post, which is begging to come to a merciful close whether its writer is dwelling on the whole concept of fake flowers or not.
Click here for a 2010 post about downtown Mathews, which
There is at least one Ben Franklin left (click here) which we pass every time we go to Avon, NC, for summer vacation.
I'm glad our former Ben Franklin is being put to such good use and will soon be full of life--and memories--once again.
Does anyone have Ben Franklin memories to share?
7 comments:
One nice things about fake flowers--they don't get Japanese beetles, LOL Betsy
We had a Ben Franklin near us growing up. My grandmother liked going there and often referred to it as the "10 cent store" or the 5&10. I used to think Ben Franklin the person was famous for starting the store- back in Rev War times. I hate plastic flowers. I think nice silk flowers can be used in attractive ways but not plastic ones.
Mother called them the "ten cent store" at times too, and shopped them all since her SS was a pittance.
Whenever I think of silk flowers, I think of soap opera sets resplendent with them on their opulent sets where they screamed at each other and stared endlessly to the strains of swelling music. Whew.
Loved the Ben Franklin.
I remember Sibley's well - what place! chock full of the most amazing what-nots and thing-a-ma-jigs and junk. I was so disappointed when it closed. I put in the same category as the old 5, 10, and 25-cent store (I think that is what it was called) on Gloucester Courthouse. I'll have to stop in the next time we are in Mathews.
As for Ben Franklins, we still had one near us here in PA as few as 10 years ago. It closed and was replaced by a thrift store.
The new stores don't quite have the character of those old ones.
I used to love to got to the Ben Franklin Store! I only went into Sibley's when I had to because I always thought it smelled funny. I love what they have done with it now. I remember my Mom and grandmother always rushing around to get what they needed on Wednesday morning because nothing was open in the afternoon. I wish we could adopt half day Fridays!
Trinia
i was looking for my little brothers blog and stumbled on to yours,i'm new to blogs so thought i would try and find my Mats with out his help, he is a good 10 years younger than me. he find it funny that i so rubish on a computer so i'm try show him.
you have taken some lovely photos. i'm from england, i'm trying my hardest as a perant to educat my children about the world and your photos have been hot topic!
This is cool!
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