On August 2 Richard Costanzo was driving to work when he realized that one of Goochland’s historic landmarks was no longer standing: Men were razing the damaged remains of what was once a general store at the corner of Genito and Cardwell Roads.

Heavily damaged by a thunderstorm earlier this month, the building was unsafe, said owner Larry Page.

“Half of the tin roof blew off and landed on a neighbor’s property,” said Page.

Page added that after the storm damaged the building it was structurally unsound.

“When we first moved there we had some new windows put in but we never used it for anything,” said Page, owner of Page Custom Rods & Restoration, who has owned the property for 25 years.

Although it hadn’t been used for years, the landmark Costanzo had missed on his morning drive had been in the county for at least 110 years.

In “Goochland Yesterday and Today,” written by Cece Bullard and published by the Goochland Historical Society, the building is pictured as it appeared circa 1900.

Malcolm Bowles and his assistant George Vaughan pose in front of the general store in a photograph.

Some local folks recall when Bowles Store was a focal point of activity in the area.

O.L. Ligon, 90, who lives on Shallowell Road, said he grew up about two and a half miles from the store.

“It was the center of activity in its heyday,” said Ligon. “You could bring in a dozen eggs and trade them for a quart of milk.”

Ligon said he was not surprised that the old building had been taken down.

“The last time I saw it the roof had been damaged,” he said.

Ed Wilson, 73, who lives nearby, said he remembers his father talking about the store. 

“My father said it was a center of commerce,” said Wilson. “It’s kind of sad to see it go.”

According to Wilson the store served as a polling place and a post office.

Wilson said his father described how farmers would bring their goods to the store, where the owner served as a broker.

He also recalled a story his father told of how teenage boys would drive herds of turkeys from Bowles Store all the way to market in downtown Richmond at Schockoe Bottom.

“It must have been 20 miles,” said Wilson.

George Taylor, who said he has lived nearby all his life, said his father Miller Taylor told him Bowles Store used to be “a booming place.”

“You could get a horse, a mule or a cow there,” Taylor recalled his father telling him. “Anything you needed for the farm.”

Photo contributed by Richard Costanzo
Workmen demolish the old Bowles Store building August 2 after it was severely damaged in a summer storm.