As a kid in the 1970s, Christmas Eve meant going to Hill’s General Store for their prize drawings. Osler and Oscar Hill, and their wives Edith and Barbara, prepared all sorts of prizes, mostly candy and nick-nacks, so that everybody who entered won something. There were a few big prizes — boots, pocket knives and such — but I always hoped to win a bag of chocolate-covered peanuts, which we only had at Christmas time (it was as an adult that I realized chocolate-covered peanuts are in season year-round). The store was so packed with people that folks could hardly move, so Osler and Oscar would have to toss the smaller prizes through the air to the winners. I sat high on the top shelf of flour sacks above where I read every comic book in the rack (Hill’s had it all) so I could see. When I won a bag of candy, I wanted somebody to chuck my prize halfway across the store so I could catch it — but instead, the men passed it hand-over-hand across the room and handed it to me. I was bummed that they didn’t toss it, but I consoled myself by eating most of the bag before anyone could stop me. Good times.

Do you have any Christmas Eve or other memories of Hill’s Store? Let us know. We would love to share them!

Hill’s General Store has been a part of Cana, VA and it’s surrounding areas since 1927. Our ancestor Thomas B. Hill (1791-1868) moved to Carroll County from Grayson County, VA sometime during his lifetime. Thomas’ great-great grandson, WC Hill (let’s call him Grandpa) saw a need in the community and decided to provide it, with the hopes that it would support his family…and it did.

Many memories were made over the years. We see it when we digitized Grandpa’s recordings from our 50th anniversary celebration. Grandpa loved stories and making memories to share. He was on the forefront of the cassette tape recorder trend. He thought it might be a treasure for the community to hear the voices of the past. Of course, back in 1977 many of us thought the idea was a little silly. We were embarrassed a bit by having to tell our ages. Little did we know that Grandpa would pass about a year and a half after making these recordings. I began this project in December of 2015. We had the recordings digitized years ago, but had never broken them up by “recording sessions.” As I sat and listened to the voices of my childhood (I was 8 in 1977), I was surprised at how many memories came flooding back. We would love to share your memories. If you have one to share, write it up or record it on your mobile phone and email it to us. We will add it to our page. If you hear a memory from a family member and would like a digital copy, let us know and I will email it to you.

~Tim, WC’s Grandson and the site designer.

Hill’s 50th Anniversary was an event for the entire community. Grandpa set up his cassette recorder and microphone near the space occupied by the office in today’s store. It was just past the pop cooler, and close to where we had set up free fountain drink station as part of the celebration. You could see the gas pumps through the large plate glass windows. Funny enough, you occasionally hear the bell that would ring when a car pulled up for gas. It’s a bit loud because the bell was right by Grandpa’s recording station.

Grandpa did most of the talking (you couldn’t stop him…he was a Primitive Baptist preacher who loved to talk), but [Read more…]

Here’s the origin story of what was probably Todd’s most infamous nick name: Whistle Britches. WO was notorious for picking on the kids of the family, and I remember him trying to get my ire up by calling me by the same name, but it didn’t have the same effect as it did on Todd. Here, Barbara retells the story of where the name came from and how Todd would react to it.

Ralph reminisces about the earlier days of Hill’s General Store. Ralph’s memories cover 1952 presidential election, knife swapping, gathering around the stove, bringing his kids to the store, Wiffle ball games, the price of pop, gas wars, and more. Barbara Hill chimes in occasionally.

We dug around YouTube and found the CBS coverage of that election. Check out the fancy “miracle of the modern age” Univac computer! Imagine sitting around the stove in the store whittling and discussing the changes the new president would bring.