Only twice in my life have I been in a store so filed with every conceivable item that I couldn’t think of what I could ask for that they might not have.
Cool Springs Park in Rowlesburg, WV, was one of them.
The place is a combination restaurant, gas station, grocery store, pharmacy, gift shop,
produce and flower stand, souvenir emporium, fishing and hunting equipment outlet, hardware store, junk shop and mid-1900’s amusement park that’s been in business since 1929.
As one newspaper reporter put it, “Cool Springs Park is a mixture of lunch counter, general store and the attic of your crazy old uncle who never threw anything away.”
It was cold and drizzly the day I happened upon it, so I didn’t talk a walk around the grounds, but it looked like the kind of place a family could spend a few pleasant hours exploring in nice weather. There’s plenty of old farm equipment and machinery, train cars, animals, ponds, toys and picnic tables to keep everyone entertained.
Inside was amazing, items packed on shelves filling every conceivable space and merchandise hanging on the walls all the way up to the high ceiling. I spent about an hour just wandering around.
Add in the buckwheat cakes and foot-long hot dogs that are available all day and you have all the elements of a relaxing, interesting pit stop.
Enjoy the photos.
By the way, the other spot I’ve encountered that had everything I could imagine in it was a jam-packed second-hand store that took up the first floor of a run-down, two-story building in a very small, block-long downtown somewhere.
I remember congratulating the proprietor on his collection of stuff and asking about the history of the place.
“I bought this building ten years ago when my wife told me I’d have to empty all my stuff out of our garage,” he replied. “I moved everything over here.”
Photos by Ron Haines
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