Going, Going, Almost Gone

STANCIL’S CHAPEL – Demolition of the old “Brewer’s Store” on NC 42 near the NC 222 intersection was begun on Friday, exposing interesting pieces of history with each reach of the big track-hoe bucket.  

The original store was built in 1952 by the father of David Brewer, the most recent owner of the old store who sold it to its new owners.

“My Dad tore old buildings down during the day and would bring the reusable materials home for Mom to pull out the nails. They built the new store out of all of the recycled materials,” he said.
 
The foundation of the original part of the store (the grill was added later), was actually made up of nothing more that broken pieces of concrete stacked on top of one another.

To the surprise of some, when the old floor boards were raised, a creek was discovered running right under the store.  It drains water from NC 222 and is piped under NC 42.

The store withstood many storms through its 70-plus years of service but Hurricane Fran was particularly memorable..

One bystander told that during “Fran,” water actually bubbled up from the flooding creek under the store and through a knothole in the tongue and groove pine floor of the store.

The Brewer’s recently sold the store and property to new owners who built a modern and much larger steel building—with no creek or squeaky floors, as the original was known for.

The rebuilt store has a modern kitchen but still sells the same “home-cooked” type meals as the old store provided to thousands of local residents and passers-by over the years.

The new store is called “42 Express” and located at 11413 NC Highway 42 East, Kenly.