Old Towne Orange

I opened Country Roads almost 20 years ago in historic Old Towne Orange. There were many reasons why I chose Old Towne, one being that it had always been known for as an "antique destination". But the other reason was because it is an historic destination as well! Old Towne Orange was established in 1870, so there is not only character here, but a lot of history as well. My building is one of the "newer" buildings, built in 1919, compared to many of the homes and other buildings that were constructed in the late 1800's! When Elseware Vintage decided to expand to another available store three doors down they began the work of getting the new store ready to open. The last tenant was a dance studio and there was a wall of mirrors. When they began taking everything down the mirror, plaster and more and started working on the store, they found these amazing walls underneath everything! I can't even imagine how exciting that would be. I have this special love of old advertising, as I see it as art. My family room is filled with vintage advertising signs! This is a big buzz around Old Towne right now, and you can see why. It is like finding a piece of history after all of this time!! Apparently, at one point it use to be an alleyway where this building is now located. In reading through everything, this building was built in 1923 which would make me think this is when they started building more on West Chapman where my building is located. Some day, maybe when this dandy economy picks back up, I would love to get the ugly stucco off the building and expose the original brick! It would look so much better! There are several buildings in Old Towne that have the original old signs painted on them. Years ago the had a group that was raising money to restore all the old advertising signs that are still on many of hour buildings. They are works of art. Even though the businesses have changed a lot over the past few years down here, the charm and character (that could be a whole other blog post) remains the same!! I'm happy to be a part of such an awesome little place!!