Miss Dollie’s Store/Dance Hall/Wood Yard 501 N. Howe St.

Miss Dollie’s Store/Dance Hall/Wood Yard 501 N. Howe St.

Mrs. Dollie Evans, a widowed mother of one daughter, had the reputation of being the “hardest working woman in town”. She owned and operated a grocery store that also served as a gathering place for the older people in the community. She grew her own vegetables which she would load into her horse-drawn wagon and take to the big houses along the riverfront to sell to the cooks and domestic help. In back of the store she maintained a wood yard where she sawed slabs of wood into uniform boards that she sold as firewood. She gave the leftover bark away to those who earned a living doing laundry or who needed it for their cookstoves. She built a porch above her store that was used for eating, dances and community parties. Miss Dollie’s daughter, Anna, followed her mother’s example of hard work. She grew up to become a Brunswick county school teacher.