My Old Historic House: Sep 10, 2011

Ms. Ruby's house/antique shop.

Cute sign, good ideal, wheel it in at night.

This is the cute little shop, where I found the darling, metal, folding ,church chairs. Already sold!

When I sold my big antique shop in St.Louis,Mo. and moved to the country ,3 years ago, to live full time at, My Old Historic House, I had to have some way to making a living. So, I opened the Gift and Antique shop that I now have, in Clarksville,Mo. Since this is a small town of only 490 people and it is almost in the middle of no where, I thought I needed a shop with a little bit of something for everyone. Also, most of my customers are tourist, so I wanted to keep the price point pretty low, as to fit into any budget.90 percent of my mercandise is under $50.00 and a lot of that is under $25.00. Not a easy task and keep the quality up as well. Since I have this deep love and passion for all things old,(antiques), I wanted to continue to sell them ,but, I feel that antiques are not as popular as they once were. Most of the younger generation, do not care for them, seems all they are interested in, is electronic and comfort. So I decided to do a mixture of old and new stuff and I came up with the name, "Richard's Great Stuff." Just about says it all. I am open most days, 10 to 5. I work in the shop all by myself, as there never seems to be enough business to hire on a helper. So this means I do the buying, selling, display, pricing, cleaning and what ever else seems to come this way. Once in awhile ,I beg my dear sister to come and help out, especially when we have a big event in town or I have a bus coming for a house tour. We are having our biggest event of the year, here in Clarksville,Oct. 8th and 9th. Applefest is our biggest and most successful events that we have. It has been going on for over 20 years. We have a craft show, parade, food venders and people have yard sales all over town. I open, My Old Historic House, for the two days for tours. My nieces come and dress in Ante Bellum costumes, ride in the parade and help me guide tours. My friend Dean comes from Chicago and plays the piano and sings and every body loves him. To get ready for this big coming event, I need to get the shop stocked up, as we have close to 10,000 people in 2 days. Last year I had over 100 go through the house. So yesterday I closed the shop and went on a shopping adventure.It was fun to get out of the shop, take a ride and see what's going on in the rest of the world. I always take the back roads , as there is so much to see . It was a beautiful day in Missouri, sun shining, cool breeze and 79 temperature.My friend Donna rode along with me and it is always fun to have as company.We get along beautifully, who wouldn't, as she is as sweet as the dew ,on a magnolia blossom, in the spring.

I have a thing for bird houses and dove cotes. Why?

This one is in Ms. Ruby's yard. I wish I could have it.

A closer look at the sad and forgotten, Ms. Ruby's house.

Pet Motel.

This was taken out the car window as I stopped in the middle of the blacktop.

This is where, Donna and I were headed.

Our first stop was at a large garage sale, put on by a Catholic Church group, in a small town called, St. Clements. I have never been a big fan of yard sales, as usually all they have are baby cloths. I sent Donna in to scope it out, she soon waved for me to come on in. We found so much stuff, I was afraid I would not have room for anything else we might find They had home made baked goods too! Guess what we had for breakfast. I spent less than $10.00 and had a half full van. I almost felt guilty, but hay, they priced the stuff!
On down the road we went. The next town we came to, was called. Middletown. When we saw the town sign, population190, I told Donna, that I remembered this wonderful old house in this town and a sweet little lady lived in it and she had the most wonderful antique shop. Her name was Ms. Ruby. She was a little bit of a person and always wore these beautiful big gold old antique dangle earrings. A lot of things from, My Old Historic house, came from Ms. Ruby. We found the house, but it was very sad. Long gone is Ms. Ruby and the wonderful old house is not far behind. I had to share these photos with you.So many wonderful antique shops I remember are gone. As I travel around, I say, that used to be an antique shop, that used to be an antique shop. Now, all gone.
Just outside Middletown, I saw this sign,"COON CREEK." Hit the brakes and stopped in the middle of the road to take this picture. Donna is used to me, know I am crazy, and seemed to take it with stride. Some one came down the road and missed my shot up, after I told them off , in my mind, I turned around and went back and got the shot. Luckily we were not killed and off we went, back on our adventure.Can you imagine telling some one your house is right beside, Coon Creek?

Found this fat feller outside the antique mall.

Warehouse of goodies, What to get?

I wanted this old cabinet, no room and no money!

Hand made candy, we ate it all the way home. They ship!

One more shop.

I just thought this was fun.

Here is a view of the car, full.

Another shot of the full car.

The next town was Montgomery City. A very old town, kinda lost in time. The first thing we saw was a sign that said antiques and resale, so my old car just took the hint and followed the arrow. This shop was kinda like a mini mall, had several little rooms, all with different owners. We managed to find a few things, my favorite were some old metal folding chairs. I call them church chairs, as they are the kind that every church hall seems to have. Most times they were wood, but these were metal with old green paint. I bought 4, they had 8, I just didn't want to spend all my money so soon and fill the car even more. I put them in the shop when I got back and they were the first thing out the door. I should have bought all 8.Who knows?
Leaving Montgomery City and finally on the road to where I was headed in the first pace., a saw another sign and just couldn't resist it either. It was a pet motel and had the cutest name,See for yourself. I am sure it is a nice place for pets to stay, but I just can't leave Sissy anywhere. I know, Donna is right, I am crazy! . In the next town, Williamsburg, there is an antique mall/gift shop. The lady that runs it, does show room buy outs. She has a wonderful selection of new gift items, up to the minute and very reasonable priced. On top of that, she like me, and I am a good repeat customer, so she gives me a nice deep discount. I find this better for me than going to the gift market. Usually they are in Chicago, Texas, Atlanta or New York, so you have that expensive trip, plus shipping to add to the cost of the merchandise, making the selling price higher. Here, I can buy one or two, at the market there is a case point. It is so much fun to get a cart and load it up. On this visit, I found fall, Halloween and Christmas. I wanted some of each, but keep in mind, I am a small shop, in a small town, and I have a small budget, so I had to be careful, not to over stock these seasonal decorations. All selections made, I had the fun of un-loading the car and re-loading it. I always say, I am not buying much, and look how the car ends up. Some times, I put Donna in and pack around her.
We went back to Montgomery City and had a late lunch at a Mexican Cafe. Was pretty good and something different for us, as the choices are limited in our small town, Leaving there we made one more stop at Bowling Green, Mo. Here we found a sweet little shop and right next to it, some more sweets. I found a few fun item, including a deer head. If some one would have told me a few years ago that I would buy a deer head, I would have called them a liar. But, I bought him, on top the load he went. And we continued home, eating our hand made candies.
Sissy Dog had to stay home, It was still a little hot out side ,for her to set in the car. She goes to the shop, where her Uncle Bruce, the Clarksville dog walker, comes and gets her, takes her for a walk and then she goes to my friend and neighbors house, for a play date with her dog Buddy. At 4:00, Bruce goes back and gets her, walks her one more time and leaves her in the shop for me. She is always so excited, jumps and kisses and cries for 10 or more minute when I walk into the door.I am just as excited as she is, as I hate, hate to leave her. At least I know she is in good hands.

There he is my first DEER.

Items I hope the men will like. When couples come shopping, you have to have something for the man, or he wants to hurry up.

This cute old tie rack with the hunting dogs is from the Church garage sale.

I love this cute feller.

Thanksgiving is coming.

Some grandmother will want to buy this for there Grand daughter.

I loved this little hand made wall hanging. And we are in the country, so I look for country things.

I hope you have enjoyed this little trip I have taken you on. If you are going to be in Middle America, Missouri, on the weekend of of Oct. 8th and 9th, we would love to have you come to Clarksville and take part in our Applefest Celebration. My Old Historic House will be open for tours, all are welcome, I will leave the lights on and Sissy Dog will always meet you all with a jump and a kiss.