02/20/09

Photo Gallery: Cavender's Store and Villanow

Located in Walker County, the Villanow General Store is the oldest continuously operated general store in the state of Georgia. The brick structure is adorned with many clues to the past. The store withstood the Civil War and General William T. Sherman's march to the sea. Customers can still purchase a bottled drink from an old Coca-Cola box and a Frigidaire cooler made in 1928. The store is open from 6 am to 8 pm six days a week during summer and closes an hour earlier in the winter.

Villanow, Georgia is located in the Northwestern part of that state in Walker County. It is between Dalton and La Fayette, Georgia. It is a small community of a few hundred citizens only. The Villanow Country Store is on the National List of Historic Places under the name of Cavender's Country Store. According to the documentation of the National List of Historic Places it was built around the year of 1840 and was probably built by Joseph Warren Cavender, who of all of it owners over the years, owned it longest. It holds the record in the State of Georgia as the longest operating stand alone country store in the entire state. There is a controversy over the actual date of the store's beginning. A current resident of Villanow states that Joseph Warren Cavender was not even born yet in 1840, but is generally believed to be the builder/owner. That means the date is more than likely incorrect. Joseph Warren Cavender was a soldier for the Confederacy and after the war he became employed by his wartime enemy -- the United States Government. He was hired to help in the cleanup and restoration of the area of the battlefield around Chickamauga and Chattanooga and in the installment of many of the monuments of Chickamauga Park. After about 4 years of this effort, it is reported by Villanow citizens that Cavender used his savings to obtain as much available land in the Villanow area at as little as twenty-five cents an acre, including the land upon which the historic Cavender Country Store was built. The Cavender Store supplied almost any needs of the Villanow community from buggies to caskets. It was also the center of activity of that mountain community and the couple of benches out front of the store served as a vital meeting place. On clear days, there was even official business transacted in the front of the store outside. The store is located between Ringgold and Resaca, Georgia, on the highway which runs in front of the store. Joseph Warren Cavender married the only daughter of Villanow and Walker County's first physician Adam G. Clements, MD -- Martha "Mattie" Clements. All seven brothers of "Mattie" Clements served along with Joseph Warren Cavender in the Confederate Armed Forces. Three of them attained the position of Asst. Surgeon. All eight of those sons of Villanow, Georgia, returned home to lead peaceful lives with their families and townsfolk.

Marker text:
Ante-bellum crossroads settlement; name taken from Jane Porter's novel: "Thaddeus of Warsaw." May 7, 1864. Kilpatrick's Cav., having crossed Taylor's Ridge at Nickajack Gap, moved to Gordon's Springs where it was joined by Ireland's brigade (Geary's Div., 20th A.C.). May 8, these troops moved to Villanow to meet & support McPherson's forces moving E. from Ship's & Gordon's Springs Gaps in Taylor's Ridge.

McPherson's troops reached Villanow at noon & continued E. to Snake Creek Gap - a surprise move to outflank Johnston's forces at Dalton. The seizure of Snake Cr. Gap was effected while Geary's Div. (20th A.C.) attacked Dug Gap.

146-9 Georgia Historical Commission 1953