JEFFERSON COUNTY, Tenn. — There's a small shop in rural Jefferson County with roots in the community over a century old.
Piedmont General Store is a staple on West Dumplin Valley Road, just a stone's throw away from Asheville Highway.
The 35 mph speed limit by the store reflects the slow pace of life the locals love. It's a small shop, with a big heart.
Pete Martin knows the feeling. He's inside the store's door every morning bright and early, ready to place his breakfast order and play a game of Rook.
Needless to say, Martin and the regulars here, start each day with a full hand.
"It's sort of like home," Martin said. "What makes home special?"
Among the table full of men playing cards, sits Jan Reagon. She owns the place.
"I'm never gonna sell it as long as I stay able to run it," Reagon said.
In the over three decades since Reagon bought Piedmont General Store, she has grown a family tree in the 122-year-old building.
Reagon's daughter Teresa Taylor considers the shop home because Reagon acquired the shop when Taylor was a young girl.
“Growing up here, it's been special," Taylor said. "Everybody knows everybody, and they care about one another.”
It's a feeling, Taylor says, you can't replicate and mass-produce.
"It's just the center of the community," Teresa Taylor's husband Fred Taylor said. Even though Fred Taylor is the mayor of White Pine, he still makes frequent trips to the small shop in Piedmont since he married into the family.
Taylor's daughter, Kensley Metcalf, who is also Reagon's 13-year-old granddaughter, grew up in the store.
"It's a cool atmosphere," Metcalf said. "You've got loving people who will talk to you, so you're not the only one around."
The Lakeway Christian Academy 7th grader hopes to take over the family business and run the Piedmont General Store one day herself.
Not only is the family tree branched by blood, but it's also branched by love.
"You can't go to a big city and know all the people there, but you can go to Piedmont, and you know the faces that walk in that door," Teresa Taylor said.
Familiar faces and friendship are what frame the building.
"We're just friendly to everybody and we take care of everybody," Reagon said.
The history here starts with memories.
"I was five years old when I first started coming here, and I've been coming back ever since," regular customer Kenneth Northern said.
Northern and many of the other people who frequent the store have seen the place change over the years.
"It used to be more of a hardware store, but Jan really got the place going when she started selling food," Martin said.
A man by the name of H.F. Snodderly owned the shop for 43 years before Reagon bought it in the 90s.
While Snodderly was the owner, Piedmont General Store mainly sold hardware. There was also a lunch counter, where local farmers and families could come in and get a bologna sandwich.
Now, the hot breakfast and lunch are the main staples of the store. Some of the famous items are tenderloin biscuits and fried pies.
"Instead of going to the heart, it goes to their stomach," Reagon said.
Reagon loves the shop but has encountered some health concerns in recent years. She was diagnosed with Addison's disease and had to miss a lot of days at the shop.
There were times when she thought she might have to give up her home away from home, but at the end of the day, she knows opening up the place for business is what kept her going each day.
Certain parts of the store will stay in the past while Reagon is in charge. Reagon doesn't accept credit cards. Every purchase is cash only.
"Credit cards wouldn't go good with this building," Reagon said.
The shelves are stocked with older and odd items that aren't for sale, like a can of "Sun-Dried Tennessee Possum" and "Flatulent Colic Medicine." Reagon keeps those things on display to remind her of her childhood.
"Some of the stuff she's got stocked was here when I was a kid," Martin said.
The shop has become a sort of community center for the older adults in the area, with the Rook games every morning, and Pampered Chef parties sprinkled in for the women.
From one generation to the next, the relationships brewed here are a reminder to slow down and sit a while.
If you would like to check out Piedmont General Store, it's open Monday through Friday, from 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The store's Facebook Page is updated daily with the specials.
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