I love it when people “fill in the blanks.”

I’m a photographer who wanders around aimlessly exploring places that I’ve never been to, and don’t know the stories behind the home, store, or school. But then readers on my Facebook page, who know more than I do about the history, will fill in the blanks.

This location was photographed in February of 2020 and Jill Peters, a local historian and incredible resource for me, says, “It was built in 1886 by John W. White. He ran a general store on the corner where he established the Manry Virginia Post Office in 1899. After his death in 1937 his son Richard Hartley White continued operating the store under the name R.H. White General Merchandise. The store closed in 1982. R.H. White died in 1993. Manry is in Southampton County near Wakefield.”

Here are some comments by people who have a more intimate knowledge - which is the best kind of history.

Shirley Clark Gill wrote, “My grandfather Rossie Clark dug that well deeper for Richard White years ago and sent my little cousin, John Bittle, down in a bucket to dig out the dirt. He sent bucket after bucket of dirt up until water was again flowing in that well. My family knew Richard White well and Quincy Hancock who ran another store up the road from there. The Hancock store has sadly fallen down, too. When my daddy was a little boy, he would walk to these stores to sweep them out to earn money for school clothes. He also swept out the old store up at Berlin.”

John Bittle commented, “I know this place very well. Mr and Mrs Richard White lived there. They owned and operated the country store. While they were living the place was immaculate. Always very pretty and neat. I can tell you stories about them, the store, and the well. I believe Mrs White’s name was Mary. She was very rough and grumpy and Mr White was mile and gentle. I went there with my Grandfather every Saturday to get groceries for the week. We lived about 21/2 miles and would walk to and from carrying the groceries in a toe sack…Mrs White liked me and I helped her and Mr White a lot in the store. I would carry boxes and sacks and do little odds and ends for them. They would pay me and I would spend it on candy, ginger snaps, Rc sodas and cheese. They had the best block cheese. I remember when the well went dry one year and my Grandfather lowered me down on the well wheel to dig out the mud and dirt. I had to place bricks around the area that I dug out. I was around 10 or 11 years old at the time and it was very scary especially when I reached water. I had to go down about 30 inches below the water line. Behind the country store was where they kept their storage of can goods, seeds, dog food and feed. After I got a bicycle I would ride there quite often.”

Karen Stith-Joyner wrote, “…me and my cousins have walked to this store a many days during the summer to get Penny candy and those ginger snap cookies. Both my grandparents lived about 2 miles from this store. The store was kinda dark inside and the floors were wood so they squeaked when you walked around. Great memories.”