Dreams, Memories & Keys

Chapter 9 - Moving on Labor Day

Although Greg and Jessie went to Temple on Saturday morning on the third Saturday in August, and each stopped to speak to the Rabbi briefly upon leaving, nothing particularly remarkable happened on the day after the gathering with Jessie's cousins and friends. In fact, nothing momentous happened over the next two weeks, aside from Jessie starting school again during the last week of August. She was officially a sophomore this year, and eagerly looked forward to rejoining her friends at school. Greg's schedule at the theater continued on steadily, same as before, and Susan worked in the relatively local New Jersey office every weekday she was there. Before they knew it, it was the first of September. Labor Day was fast approaching and the Abernathys all knew it meant a change was coming for their household, at least temporarily.

September 1st was a Tuesday and on this particular week, Greg had the day and evening off. Susan was home on time following a busy day at work. Jessie came home a little later than usual following the first meeting of the Drawing Club for the school year. It was a club she was very active in as a freshman, which supported her developing talents as an artist. Consequently, it felt like there was a lot for the family to talk about when they sat down to dinner that evening.

"So, what did you do today while I was working and Jessie was in school?" Susan asked her husband.

"I went to visit Norma. Specifically, she invited to me to come see for myself what has become of the store under her house since The Museum annexed it for one of their exhibits and the shop they are now running to support themselves," Greg explained.

"I've been meaning to do that myself," Susan remarked. "How did it look?"

"The Museum has done a wonderful job, Susan, restoring the front of the store to the way it was when the building was new and the shop served as a neighborhood grocery store run by Norma's great-great grandfather, Douglas Seaman. Apparently, the store was first known as 'Stone's Grocers' because it was a business Douglas Seaman bought from Marvin Stone."

"Was he any relation to Levi Stone?" Susan wondered.

"He may have been. The museum didn't have the particulars, only that the store originally operated in another location before being moved to what then was a new, larger building. That happened in 1886. The exhibit documents show that the name of the business was eventually changed to 'Ludlow Grocers', named after the street it is on. However, The Museum made it a point to capture the original state of the store in its exhibit," Greg related.

"How did they do that, Papa?" Jessie asked.

"They made the store look as much like it did on opening day in that location as they could, based on photos taken for the newspaper to publicize their new address," Greg explained. "The photo clearly shows baskets of fresh fruits and vegetables on display in the window at the very front of the store, enticing customers to come in. The Museum has recreated that, from the signage on the window, to the displays of produce, which are as close as they can make it to the photo from the newspaper. There are enlarged copies of the article on display in the museum, disguised as an advertisement for the special offerings for the day. It is really quite wonderful."

"How much of the space did they take up with the old grocery store?" Susan asked in surprise.

"Not that much. It does occupy the entire front wall, making the museum look like a grocers from the outside, but inside that display extends a mere six feet into the store. From there, shelving that might have held foods, or cases that originally were part of the butcher's display have been turned into display cases for the Museum store. The refrigerated butcher case now holds packaged ice cream for sale," Greg told them. "Beyond that, there are other displays containing historic maps of the neighborhood, census records showing who owned the store, including enough information to document that the building has remained in the same family for more than 120 years. Displays on other walls document the history of the neighborhood as a whole and of the store itself. The Museum really has done a remarkable job."