Hello! So maybe that sounds humorous but if you’ve stopped by my blog a few times, you may be thinking there could be some truth in that title.
It started with another local road trip – to the southern end of the Shenandoah Valley. After visiting the Harrisonburg area in December, we made a note to head back to that amazing antiques mall that we found. This time my husband searched the surrounding area and found two promising shops in Lexington, VA. We were out the door at 5:45 a.m. and had a full day ahead of us.
Lexington, VA is known for its scenic byways and civil war history. It is also home of two well-known colleges- Washington and Lee University (Robert E. Lee is buried here) and VMI. We took a drive through both campuses, which are essentially side by side.
The two antique malls that we came to see were really fantastic. It is always so great when a place exceeds our expectation – both in size and quality of antiques. Our first stop was Duke’s – this place may just get its own post later, and deserves kudos for opening at 9:00 a.m.
But the stalker part of this post was brought about at a shop simply called The Antique Mall.
For my husband and I, spotting a pie safe earns you serious credit. We rush ahead of each other to find one first. We have a good-sized “I’ve got credit!” list…even the kids know what to look for (Scotties, dress forms, Victorian albums….pie safes).
The pie safe love started after we were married in 1995. We quickly began hitting the local antique shops around the Monterey Bay (CA) area, with a notebook in hand. Hard to believe I used to take notes the way I did, and maybe harder to believe I’ve kept them all these years. Here are a few pages of pie safe notes from the mid-90’s! I remember when $1,000 for a pie safe seemed high, and now they seem to average $2,000 and up – way up. Today our house is home to two pie safes as well as other Americana primitives – 2 dry sinks and a jelly cupboard.
The Antiques Mall in Lexington had the most incredible array of pie safes. The most I’ve ever seen in one place…I was in pie safe heaven. I know this must sound quite comical to most, but after all, this is true confessions. If you happen to like these old cupboards too, you’ll enjoy these pictures. Isn’t it interesting to learn how some of our ancestors stored their baked goods in the days before ice boxes? I love the little details: a mouse hole at the edge of a drawer, the way the punched tins not only provided ventilation, but decoration, and the fact that many pie safes contained key holes (they had to keep away hungry little hands). I’m saving my favorite pie safe for last.
After all of that goodness, we made a pit stop on the way home. 😉
Please share with us, are you on the hunt for anything out of the ordinary when out treasure hunting? I’d love to hear about what you’re stalking. I’m thinking of putting together some sort of show-us-your-collection blog hop in the near future – let me know if this sounds like a good idea!
Thank you for stopping by!
-Cindy
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