A relic of a simpler time.
I stand looking at a store my grandfather, or even my great-grandfather, may once have visited while traveling this same way. Given Doty’s location on the main road from Chehalis to Raymond many of my ancestors would have passed through here often enough, perhaps stepping through these same doors.
The building is a typical example of an early 20th century general store, probably originally called a dry-goods store. When the store was constructed, Doty was a lumber mill and railroad town, a bustling place far different than the quiet, rural farming community that exists today. For over a century the store has served this community, offering basic groceries, fuel, and, under the current owners, fresh baked goods.
The railroad is gone, now the Willipa Hills Trail. The main highway now bypasses the tiny town of Doty, you have to drive half a mile across the farm fields to visit this little store, an ambassador from the past that is still a working part of the community.
The groceries on the shelves may be modern products in bright plastic packaging, the cash register now a computer, but the store still feels old… The clapboard construction, the creaky floor, and the smell. The building just smells old, the scent of old wood and old paint. It becomes easy to envision a logger in hob-nailed boots passing through, or a Model-T Ford parked out front.
To my delight, along the back wall there is a little chest freezer where an old childhood memory can be found… Drumstick ice-cream cones. A favorite treat that was once reserved for family road trips and special events. I have always enjoyed these but rarely indulge. This day, traveling with my father to attend a tribal meeting, it seems quite appropriate. Not to mention quite welcome on a warm summer day.
A perfect summer day in the Willapa Hills, and a bit of a drive remaining before our destination. I finish my ice cream before we head out again, down the road to see around the next bend and over the next hill.
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