Cooperative Living January 2019 - 34

Farmer remembers a booming Milford,
too, " before the interstate highways came. "
" With interstate advent and trucking
replacing some rail shipments, Milford
lost its popularity a little bit. But it's still a
great village full of wonderful people. "
Today Milford is a mix of historical homes,
newer homes, some abandoned structures and
some still-thriving businesses. Wayne Brooks,
president of the Caroline County Historical
Society, observes, " Businesses are locally
owned and have kept traditions like great
customer service. "
Terry Bullock oversees 10 employees at
DeJarnette Lumber Company and notes,
" This location has gone through a series of
owners; the oldest record we have is 1912. I
came here in 1979. We are probably the oldest
continuously operating business in Milford. "
DeJarnette provides wholesale lumber
to commercial customers in several states.
Bullock explains, " Most are in
manufacturing businesses - we buy
rough lumber from sawmills and cut and
size to customer specifications. "
Down the road in Milford Industrial Park,
Ryan Gray is a fourth-generation vicepresident
at E.M. Gray & Son, founded by
his great-grandfather in 1928. E.M. Gray
sells home heating oil, kerosene, gasoline
and propane products.
Gray, who has a degree in finance from
Kent Farmer, CEO of Rappahannock
Electric Cooperative.
Virginia Tech, says, " There's a good, smalltown
feel to the area, but there's not a lot in
Milford anymore - life kind of passed it by.
Businesses here are not big enough to support
a heavy population of employees, so many
people travel outside the area to work. "
Hoover Treated Wood Products Inc. in
A picture from Milford history. A busy day
at the train depot.
Milford is one of four Hoover locations
nationwide. Established in 1955 and based
in Georgia, ads say it is the largest producer
of fire-retardant-treated wood in the world.
Family-owned and -operated Beasley
Concrete, Inc., dating to 1937, supplies
concrete to both commercial and residential
customers, with locations in Milford,
Callao, Miller's Tavern and Kilmarnock.
President Bill Beasley, notes, " Freight
trains do stop at some of the facilities
in Milford's industrial area. But when
passenger trains quit stopping here,
it caused decline. "
Out on Richmond Turnpike/Route 301,
Ryan Gray, vice-president at E.M. Gray & Son,
works at the family-owned business founded
by his great-grandfather in 1928 in Milford.
32 | Cooperative Living | January 2019
next to Hidden Acres Family Campground,
Milford's Whispering Pines Christmas Tree
Farm boasts 22 acres of white pine and
Colorado blue spruce for " choose and
cut " Christmas trees. Owner Darrell
Schwartz, a retired military and civil service
employee, retired in 1981 and started his
business in 1982, working with wife Nona
and son Dave.
" It's a slow-paced area, not the rat race
you have in cities ... there's never been a
traffic jam in Milford! " he says with a
laugh. " The older you get the more you
appreciate not being in traffic. "
Schwartz, who also operates a 52-acre
tree farm in Staunton, says the day after
Thanksgiving up until two days before
DeJarnette Lumber Company is a longstanding
Milford business.
Christmas he's extremely busy.
" Families come and people see what it's
like to grow a tree in a field instead of
buying one from a tree lot. We furnish a
little bow saw, people pick a tree, and we
shake and bale it, " he explains. " We have
a group of blind adults who also come
here every year as a group for a service
project to pick out trees ... it's amazing
to watch them. "
Hoover Treated Wood Products Inc. is one of
Hoover's four locations nationwide.
Darrell Schwartz owns Whispering Pines
Christmas Tree Farm. The farm boasts 22 acres
of white pine and Colorado blue spruce trees.
co-opliving.com
PHOTO COURTESY OF WAYNE BROOKS
PHOTO COURTESY OF RAPPAHANNOCK ELECTRIC CO-OP
http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living January 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cooperative Living January 2019
