Started in 1884 by my great grandfather, L. D. Sharp, Sharp's Country Store in Slatyfork, WV started selling petroleum products for those new-fangled things called auto-mobiles. The first order of gasoline was delivered by horse and wagon. Standard Oil was the brand and we still have the Gilbert & Barker visible pumps (with original lenses) and several old signs. We had a large oval ESSO sign in the 1950s, but it was hit by the boom of a lumber truck (the sign literally hung right over the road) and my grandfather stored it in our cellar house. I inherited the farm and store 12 years ago. I found the sign and pulled it out, cleaned it and hung it on the wall in our store. Years later, a fellow from Seneca Rocks stopped in and was determined to buy one of my old Standard Oil signs. We got to talking and I confessed that the only why I 'might' let the sign go would be if he could find me a pole just like the one we used to have that the ESSO sign hung on. Three days later Leonard appeared with a flatbed semi and there it was, the exact pole! We did the trade. Several weeks later, pole wire-brushed and painted, slab with electric line poured, dried and painted, we righted the pole and hung the old ESSO sign! It was an exciting adventure and I am so glad to have part of our legacy flying high, again. Thought you all might like a chronology of my adventures in that regard........
