Phipps General Store Highlighted in Washington Examiner
Posted On Saturday, July 22, 2023
The general store that cultivated a community one Friday at a time
Across the very top of the storefront reads "Phipps General Store," accompanied with signs for Schwan’s Ice Cream and one noting that it is the Silas Creek United States Post Office. All around it are barns and postcard-perfect farmland. It is only upon closer inspection that you learn this is now the former post office and that the store is closed. Or is it?
You probably wouldn't be surprised at this point to learn that Phipps General Store holds a secret.
Every Friday night, this store, which has been shuttered since 1953, opens for the sole objective of forming a community of musicians and music lovers from all across Ashe County — from all over North Carolina, in fact, and even from nearby Virginia and West Virginia. They come here with their banjos, guitars, fiddles, and mandolins to play old-time music and bluegrass. The musicians, along with anyone else who comes to sit a spell with them, keep time, sing stories, and form friendships and bond with each other.
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