The Shadow
Elizabeth Putnam, a 1986 graduate of Alleghany High School, has resigned from her position as general manager of The Historic Masonic Theatre in Clifton Forge to become an entrepreneur.
She and David Carter, her husband who is an Alleghany County deputy sheriff and bailiff, purchased Dunlap Mercantile situated on the banks of Dunlap Creek in Alleghany County on U.S. Route 311.
The couple met while Elizabeth was working in the Alleghany County Sheriff’s department before she was hired as general manager of The Historic Masonic Theatre in 2017 by Jeff Stern, executive director of the theatre.
She and David were married in 2020, and eventually, they decided to go into business near David’s home place in Crows.
Elizabeth noted, “We opened on August 1, and business has been growing day by day.”
Opening seven days a week at 6:00 a.m., Dunlap Mercantile, LLC., remains open till 8:00 p.m. Mon. through Sat. and closes at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday.
After graduating from AHS, Elizabeth, one of William “Wimpy” Putnam and Mary Brady Putnam’s 12 children, moved to Portsmouth, Va. in 1991.
William, from Swoope, Va., served as a park ranger at Douthat State Park, and he settled in Alleghany County in the Triangle Hill area where Elizabeth grew up while attending Sharon Elementary School.
Elizabeth secured a job as a 911 operator in Waverly in Surry County, Va., after working as a cashier in an Exxon service station in Portsmouth for a while.
Later on, she was hired as a secretary in Brunswick County.
She recalled, “I worked for the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office as an executive secretary when James R. Woodley was sheriff.”
She noted the fear that spread through Eastern Virginia because of a random sniper attack by John Allen Muhammad, 41, and Lee Boyd Malvo, 17, in the Washington Metropolitan area and along the I-95 corridor in Virginia and Maryland. They left 10 dead and seven critically wounded, including a child.
“Every morning we would go to work, and Sheriff Woodley would call everyone together for a briefing (about the shootings),” Elizabeth remembered.
After moving back to the Alleghany Highlands, Elizabeth secured a job with Alleghany County and Clifton Forge as a 911 operator, and by 2008, she decided to take a vacation to Hawaii. Upon her return, she signed on with R.C. Cole’s Amusement Company as an assistant to Joy Putnam, her sister who is one year and four days younger.
Elizabeth remarked, “I was alone at the theatre through COVID, except for the board of directors.”
She continued, “During COVID, we tried to develop a strategy to keep the theatre going, and The Alleghany Foundation and PPP (the federal government’s payment protection program) money helped.”
After theatres were allowed to reopen their doors in Virginia, Justin Reiter, The Historic Masonic Theatre’s executive director, replaced Stern who had resigned early on during COVID.
After Reiter took over the theatre’s reins, The Historic Masonic Theatre adopted Garfield, a cat that was designated as the theatre’s mascot. When Elizabeth left the theatre, Garfield went with her and is now the mascot of Dunlap Mercantile.
The store has a three-bedroom apartment upstairs, and Elizabeth and David are remodeling the bathroom in order to incorporate the rental as part of their business.
“We are going to rent the apartment by advertising on Vrbo,” Elizabeth offered.
They purchased the property from Howard Bratton who resides in N.C., and the nearly one-acre parcel has a smokehouse on it, one that was transported from W. Va.
Elizabeth observed, “Someone had lived in the smokehouse in the past.”
She and David plan to remodel the smokehouse and create a flea market area surrounding the structure in order to build their business.
Before COVID-19 negatively impacted businesses around the world, Elizabeth and David had considered purchasing the property.
She said, “I talked to Howard about purchasing the property before COVID, and later on after the property was under a contract that didn’t go through, a mutual friend let me know that the property was still available.”
Elizabeth explained that a lot of her business is coming from customers using the new ATM machine that has been installed, one that features Bitcoin.
The store features a variety of items such as flags, knives and T-shirts in addition to beer, soft drinks, fresh perked coffee, snacks, ready-to-go sandwiches and picnic supplies such as hotdogs and hamburgers.
The store’s remote location some 12 miles from I-64, serves as a place for area residents to purchase feed for their chickens, goats, and pets without making a long trip to Covington.
“We carry whole corn, crack corn, sweet feed and treats for dogs,” Elizabeth remarked.
She concluded, “We have had customers stop in from as far away as Canada, and we have set up a “Facebook” page for our business.”
The photo of the six motorcyclists from Canada can be viewed on Dunlap Mercantile, LLC’s “Facebook” page.
