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A Buckingham County family wants to restore and reopen a piece of the area’s history. During their Monday, Nov. 18 meeting, planning commission members heard from Jacqueline Gooden-Seay, who came asking for a conditional use permit to turn the old Shelton Store into something both old and new. 

Gooden-Seay represented the Gooden Family Trust, which owns the property at 1779 Shelton Store Road in Buckingham, where the family’s old country store is located. Built and originally opened in 1913, the Shelton Store was in operation until 1985. It was Gooden-Seay’s grandfather who built and opened the store. Now what the family wants is to rebuild and reopen it as part country/retail store and part events center. Events on the property would include community meetings, special programs to teach about both agriculture and the area’s history, as well as tours and other activities for up to 250 people. Gooden-Seay also requested a permit to allow glamping (think ‘glamourous, resort-style camping), dry campsites and nature trails on the property. 

“We’re going to focus on the history of the area,” Gooden-Seay told the commission. “We want to focus on educating students, providing opportunities for individuals to learn about agriculture, the history of Buckingham’s agriculture and the history of the African American contribution to Buckingham’s agricultural system and educational system.” 

She added that some of the events would be workshops on astronomy, on how to pilot drones as she herself is certified in that area. Gooden-Seay added that she and her family are in the process of working with Buckingham Historical Society to renovate the property. Now they just want permission to take the next steps, once the building is ready. 

What do we know about the Shelton Store?

The man who opened the Shelton Store was Fleming Ivanhoe Shelton. County records show he was born in the Maysville District of Buckingham back on Sept. 12, 1880. What little information we have about his younger years comes from the family, which say he finished the third grade. He shows up in county records at age 29, when he bought 35 acres of land on Jan. 18, 1907.  Three years later, on Aug. 23, 1910, he bought another 6.1 acres adjacent to the first parcel.

Soon after, he and his wife Annie realized the community needed a store, so they opened one. The front sign on the store displayed its name, “F.I. Shelton Store and General Merchandise”, providing groceries and household goods to their neighborhood. The Sheltons were also known to extend credit without interest on purchases to many members of the community. As such, the community supported the project. The F.I. Shelton Store and General Merchandise survived the economy of WWI, the Great Depression, WWII, and other conflicts through the decades. For many years, this was the only store serving the community within a five-mile radius. The store’s commercial operation officially
closed its doors in 1984.

What about the rest? 

Beyond the building itself, planning commission members raised a couple of questions about the plan. First, they wanted to know how the parking situation would be handled. If you have a maximum of 250 people at an event, where would you allow them to park? Gooden-Seay pointed out the family property includes 40 acres of open pasture where they can set up parking. As some of this area would be a bit far to walk to the store, the family also plans to set up some transportation, to take people from the parking lot to the main events. Commission members also asked about the glamping, as far as how many sites would be set up at any given time. The answer to that is no more than 15 to 20. 

While the family is certainly allowed to rebuild or build any structures on their property as they want, Shelton Store Road is part of the A-1 (Agriculture) district. That means the Buckingham County zoning ordinance doesn’t allow a country store and events center automatically. Residents have to get a conditional use permit, which is why the Gooden family has filed the request with the county. Up next will be a public hearing, currently set for Monday, Dec. 16 at 6 p.m. Most likely planning commission members will take a vote on making a recommendation during that same meeting.