With care and perseverance, old buildings can be given new life and commercial viability. For example, the large brick building in the featured photo became Amy’s Café in Falmouth.

Sometimes, however, historic places are removed but their names remain. Doctor Hawkins Stone’s house was removed when Doc Stone Plaza was created off of Garrisonville Road/610. An IHop Restaurant now sits where Doctor Stone’s house stood.

Oakley, the house of Union spy, John Howard Skinker, was removed to make way for Oakley Reserve, a residential housing development. This development is located off of Poplar Road in the Hartwood area of Stafford.

On Highway 218 was the “White Oak School.” It burned and was rebuilt in 1912 as a one room school that educated students through the 7th grade. It closed in the 1960s and was used as a Head Start building until the 1980s. It became the “White Oak Civil War Museum,” considered one of the best relic museums in the country focusing on the common soldier.