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Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Fire in an Icon in my World

When we were kids Dad had a bookstore/antique store combination on Main Street in Fonda NY. I have an amazing array of memories of those times, from reading through the merchandise to melting my boots on the kerosene stove. Many of my most prized possessions today are bits of history that served as toys...things that I picked up off the cluttered tables and begged to be allowed to keep, like the button in last week's Sunday Stills. I can remember sitting in Dad's chair in the alcove one freezing winter day and finding a book with a fancy Victorian lady on the cover on the shelf beside the chair. I picked it up, opened it and discovered Black Beauty......My brothers and I spent so many hours there in the days when we were young.

Dad moved the business to its current location in Johnstown many years ago, but I will never forget growing up in "The Shop" or Montgomery's Antiques and Tryon County Books. The building eventually became a video store and then just another empty place on an almost empty Main Street.

Last night it burned.

Fire has changed the face of the village so much in the past few years...

5 comments:

Dani said...

I'm so sorry hon.

I'd be waiting for it to cool then grabbing a brick or another small piece of the building to bring home.

R.Powers said...

Sorry to hear that. It's hard to see a building with good memories go.

CTG Ponies said...

How sad that another piece of history is gone.

Anonymous said...

That's a hard one, 3C. I know my friend Cindy was upset when the old Faulknor place burned in Glen. It's tough to lose the reminders of your childhood.

threecollie said...

Dani, that is a great idea...it had changed a lot over the past few years, but I still have a lot of memories

FC, my mom says the door was solid cherry and she and dad refinished it years ago when that was what they did. I wonder if it survived the fire.

CTG, downtown is quickly becoming unrecognizable...

akagaga, I have a feeling your friend Cindy is our friend Cindy too. We were also very saddened when the Faulknor home was burned. Ralph had a lot of memories of good times there as well.Dad's old shop had changed a lot during its many metamorphoses, but I still have so many memories. I will miss it.