“Bring An Empty Jar For Molasses”
In the post war years, I’m talking the Civil War here… folks in Holly Springs had a couple of choices of general mercantile type businesses to obtain needed items for their farms and households. Now these establishments did not have had the wide selection as modern day big-box stores and mega supermarkets do today. But, remember most farm folks grew their own vegetables and harvested their own fruit. They raised livestock for meat, milk and eggs. And every farm had at least one good hunter that came home with a turkey, squirrel, rabbit or a deer for the dinner table. As enterprising as these hardy farm folks were, they still needed to rely on an ol’ general store for items like sugar, coffee, salt and the like.
Thomas B. Holt came to Holly Springs in the early 1882 at the urging of his good friend and fellow Middle Creek business owner, George B. Alford. Going into partnership with Marcus C. Nichols, Holt and Nichols opened a general mercantile on Main Street, right across the street from Holt’s house (now an empty lot at the corner of Earp & Main Streets) and a few feet down from the Nichol’s Home (now Pimento Tea Room).
Holt sold the store to David A. Baker in 1919. Baker already ran a successful sawmill in the Hollemans Crossroads area, as Holly Springs had an ample natural resource of long leaf pines. The loggers he employed would come into his commissary-type store to get their supplies for the week on credit. On pay-day Baker would subtract the amount due to him from their paycheck.
Working as a clerk in the store was a young, handsome Paul Cummings. He caught the eye of the daughter of Baker and soon Cummings and Miss Kathryn Baker were courting. By 1942, Cummings needed to bring home a larger paycheck to support his new bride and had sought employment with the Durham-Southern Railroad.
Tragedy struck in the early winter of 1943 when Cummings had a horrific accident where he lost his leg. After spending a year in the hospital, Cummings knew that he could not return to work on the railroad. Baker turned the store over to his son-in-law in the fall of 1944.
Now known as the Cummings Grocery, things remained much the same as when Baker ran the old store. The classic old-style fuel pump with the glass ball with “Pure Oil” stood out front. Groceries still made up the bulk of the inventory, but also the store offered men’s work clothes and basic hardware goods as well. Credit was still extended and most all of the customers availed themselves of that opportunity. Bills were always settled on Fridays when the paychecks were cashed.
The store served another vital function in the community, it was a spot for the men of the community to gather and chit-chat. Open until 10 p.m., the bench inside the store would always have a number of residents just visiting.
In the early 1960s, the North Carolina Department of Transportation deemed that Main Street should be widened with curbing and gutters added. The proximity of the widened street came almost up to the front door of the old store. Plans were made to build a new, modern store directly behind the old store. Whilst Cummings and his crew built the new store, Mrs. Cummings kept the old store open for the customers who relied on the convenience of the location for purchasing their groceries and other needs.
Vada Cummings-Fiegler, daughter of Paul & Kathryn Baker-Cummings reflected on her mother telling her that as a baby she slept so much that the only time her father could see her awake was in the middle of the day, so baby Vada would be packed up and taken for a visit to see her Daddy at the store. She recalls many fond memories as a child of both the old and the new stores. One still vivid in her memory, even now as an adult, was a huge tank containing molasses. Folks would bring empty jars into the store to fill with this delectable syrup. Vada also marveled at her father’s ingenuity when telephones had not yet come to Holly Springs. He ran wire from the store to their house on Center Street with an old type crank telephone at either end to be able to communicate with his wife “up at the house.” Along with being clever, he had a special place in his heart for his little girl, making sure she got a tasty little snack when she would come into the store after school.
The family business saw Vada working as a cashier during her teen years while her brother Freddy helped stock shelves. Another memory, or really a law she shared….NO alcohol could be sold at any store within a one (1) mile radius of the Baptist church located at the corner of Main & Center Streets. She laughed and added that maybe that rule was what made moonshine so popular!
Vada had especially fond memories of helping her father deliver groceries that were loaded into the back of the station wagon to be carried to the out-laying farms in the country. Most all of the home deliveries were the more rural black families that may not have had transportation. She said that folks were so gracious and welcoming to her and her father. It is one of her more precious memories of life in Holly Springs.
The Cummings ran the store until 1979 when Paul suffered a stroke. The family rented out the store until 1991 when the estate sold the business.
Now, in 2019, the “new-modern convenience store” sits alongside of a two-story building with a roof-top restaurant and parking deck. My, how things have changed. But, thank goodness the “no-alcohol rule” went out in the late 1960’s… I, for one, am looking forward to dining on the roof top patio overlooking downtown while sipping a glass of wine.
