Millison's Store - 1942 (Photo Courtesy of Jason Babcock) |
Hiram's son Larry recalled the Cedar Point store in a Slackwater interview. Here are some excerpts from that interview:
My father had a general store. And it was a little country store, a bar. He was a very aggressive merchant. We had the only Santa Claus in St. Mary's County. I can remember we had, we would do big promotions at Christmas. He had a mimeograph machine. Nobody had a mimeograph machine. People would come from St. Georges's Island in the Seventh District, which was forty, fifty, forty miles away. We did a lotta business with the people from Solomons Island, which was right across the river. He was, he and my mother were good merchants. I remember a big promotion at Christmas was a navel orange for a penny. That was a big thing. Nobody, not many people had seen oranges. An orange was not a native fruit, and you know, you didn't have A&Ps and Safeways and so an orange was a real delight for someone to get. And no one saw Santa Claus. We had a fella named Gene Pilkton who worked for us. He was a very large man; he didn't need any paddin to be Santa Claus. It would be comical to see Gene Pilkton, cause Gene did everything. We delivered ice to everybody. And Gene would be workin in the ice house in his Santa Claus uniform. He'd be puttin gas in people's car. You'd drive down the road and there's Santa Claus puttin gas in the car. Gene was a brilliant guy. He could fix anything. He had no education at all, but he just was one of those folks that could comprehend 'lectricity or mechanical things. Loved my father. And my father, kiddin with him one day, said, "Now, Gene, when Easter comes," says, "I've got a Easter costume for ya, and I want ya to dress as the Easter Bunny." And he [Gene] says, "No, by God, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna do that." Said worse than that, really. And he didn't come back til about Fourth of July. He just stayed back in the woods. He lived back in the woods.....
After the base started? Well, my father moved. My father bought a piece of land right outside the main gate. We were very lucky. And he thought that would be a good place. And he bought thirty-five acres, which we've developed and we've added, we've bought other property since. And we've prospered as the Navy, the naval base has grown and St. Mary's County has grown. For the rest of the Slackwater interview with Larry (click here.)
I also found this 1990 article by Ken Rossingol on how the Millison Store became the center and start of Lexington Park (click here.) It too discusses how Hiram was the key figure in building Lexington Park starting with his country store and bar.
The tune White Christmas was song of the year in 1942 but this Glenn Miller tune also spent several weeks at the top of the Billboard charts back then. I bet Hiram poured a Moonlight Cocktail or two at his place back in the day:
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