Here is a 1975 photo of the old Benjamin E. Harrington & Company store building (now a restaurant called "Boats & Hose", formerly known as the Island Grille and as the General Store). It is one of the dominant historic buildings that defines the entrance to Taylor's Island once across the bridge that spans Slaughter Creek. Reported to have been built in 1917 following a fire that destroyed a Harrington family owned store across the road, the two-story rectangular frame commercial block retains its historic first store storefront with a recessed entrance and large glass display windows. Stretching across the full front of the commercial block is a wide shed roofed awning supported on heavy triangular-shaped brackets. The interior retains its early twentieth century character with vertical tongue-and-groove board walls and ceiling as well as sections of shelving.
Benjamin E. Harrington owned and operated a store on either side of Taylor's Island Road between the mid 1890s and his death in 1930, when his son, Byron E. Harrington assumed control of the business. At the death of Benjamin E. Harrington in 1930, his wife, Fannie, conveyed her ownership interest in the property to her son Byron.
John "Pat" Neild, Jr. (90 years of age in 2020) recalled of the store:
"I remember when there were gas pumps out front. They had a glass top where you could pump up gasoline by a hand pump to the amount you wanted to buy, and then let it flow by gravity into your vehicle or can. That had to be before electricity in the mid-1940s."
Benjamin E. Harrington owned and operated a store on either side of Taylor's Island Road between the mid 1890s and his death in 1930, when his son, Byron E. Harrington assumed control of the business. At the death of Benjamin E. Harrington in 1930, his wife, Fannie, conveyed her ownership interest in the property to her son Byron.
John "Pat" Neild, Jr. (90 years of age in 2020) recalled of the store:
"I remember when there were gas pumps out front. They had a glass top where you could pump up gasoline by a hand pump to the amount you wanted to buy, and then let it flow by gravity into your vehicle or can. That had to be before electricity in the mid-1940s."
Above image is an interior shot of the General Store as it appeared in the 1992. This photo appeared in Chesapeake Bay Magazine's December 1992 issue along with as story on the island.
Image above is a receipt from the B.E. Harington Store from 1893 (photo courtesy of the collection of Allen Dietrich).
