Wilson

Erin Peake
Contributing Writer
Have you ever looked at an old
building and wondered the story
behind it? There is an old building
in the Centerville area of Ridgeway
on Centerville Road next to the
cemetery that has a story behind
it. As a matter of fact it has many
stories to tell. Most people in
Centerville know or have at least
seen this building.
This building used to be a store,
“Harvey’s Store” as they called
it. The actual store name was
“Peake Brother’s Grocery,” and
was owned by Caliph and Harvey
Peake, the Peake brothers. It has
been there since the early 1960’s,
and it was the local place to buy
groceries and gas. Caliph Peake
built the store and needed help
running it. He knew his brother
Harvey would fit the bill.
You could say it was the heart of
the Centerville Community during
its era. It supplied bread, milk,
groceries from the fresh market
and your typical gas station items.
“It was best known for its ‘round
the heater camaraderie,’” said
Pinkey Peake, daughter-in-law
of Caliph Peake. “Smoking was
allowed, but no drinking except
for all the cokes and Pepsi’s taken
out of the old drink box with the
slide back lid filled with ice water
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Harvey’s Store
This little store in Centerville, (Harvey’s Store), has a lot of history
for many residents in Ridgeway and Blythewood.
to keep the glass bottle drinks
cold. Most things that were bought
were charged until payday. When
payday came around Harvey
would ring up the total and the
cycle would begin again.”
According to Pinkey, Harvey ran
the store from dusk till whenever
people decided they wanted to go
home, which may have been 10
or 11 o’clock at night. He ran the
store this way for most of his life.
He kept the shelves stocked, so
everyone knew all their favorite
items would be there waiting for
them.
“There was no better place to
buy fresh potatoes, huge hunks
of bologna and cheese sliced off
of a big round hoop,” Pinkey
said. “Tales were weaved every
evening, Monday thru Saturday as
the local men gathered around the
wood burning stove in the winter
months and near the fan in the
summer months.”
In the upcoming issues of the
Blythewood Leader there will
be articles about the different
stories that the men “weaved
every evening,” and all the jokes
that were played at the little store.
In time, the whole history and
stories behind this little store in
Centerville, Ridgeway will be
known.
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the blythewood leader • August 14, 2008 • Page 7