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Passmore Grocery Store & Gas Station | Cashiers History
Written By: Jane Gibson Nardy - Cashiers Historical Society | Issue: 2020/10 - October
Several times during this summer of 2020 there have been articles in the Crossroads Chronicle newspaper about future development planned on the site of the Wormy Chestnut on US 64, just west of the Cashiers Crossroads.
Most of you, for the past decade or so, are quite familiar with seeing merchandise like Adirondack chairs spread out in front of the Wormy Chestnut with potential buyers walking around or standing and talking with the site’s owner, Phil “Slick” Monteith.
The picture accompanying this article takes you back to 1939 and features Chris Passmore standing beside a gas pump in front of his combination grocery and gas station. He and his wife, Edith Picklesimer Passmore operated the grocery store until 1962. Besides groceries, you could also buy clothing. The store served for a time as the pick up point for the bus to Brevard.
One of my Cashiers cousins, Madge Dillard Merrell, told me she took that bus to Brevard where a dentist pulled most of her teeth. She remembered riding back to Cashiers with a white towel pressed to her mouth. By the time she got back to Cashiers, the towel had turned red.
In 1974 the building began its long run as the Wormy Chestnut, an antiques store.
The building just west of the store was the home of Chris and Edith Passmore and they lived there until the 1970s. An unusual feature of the house is that instead of facing the road, it is set back from it and faces the side of the store. Next year at this time, the old Passmore home will be gone but fond memories and many pictures will still be with us.
