(country music)
- [Joe] To visit the Circle P Ranch General Store,
well your first challenge is to find it.
It's tucked away hundreds of yards from the main road.
And there's no sign to let you know
when it's time to make a turn.
Well, just look for the covered bridge.
- [Greg] As soon as you come across the bridge,
you feel like you've stepped back in time.
And even if you don't know what back in time is,
you get to experience it real quick.
- [Joe] The store was a long time dream
of owner, Rufus Page, who didn't just dream it,
he built it.
- [Rufus] I just wanted somewhere
for my friends to come, play cards, play music.
I didn't have no blueprints, no design, no nothin'.
We just came in here and built it.
- [Greg] This is his dream that he's had
probably as far back as he can remember.
And I think his family could probably speak to that
probably better than I could.
But you know this is things that he's brought together.
Many of the buildings that you see out here in the front
and around, he's brought onto the property.
And of course, this building, he built from the ground up.
- [Joe] That's Greg Coles, who manages the Circle P,
a place that's part soda fountain, part deli
and part store full of Amish made merchandise.
The centerpiece is a chrome 1906 imperial universal stove,
once used to heat up a hotel in Chicago.
Nowadays it adds to the warm old time atmosphere
that's a big part of the charm.
(sizzling)
Hungry visitors can enjoy everything
from fried bologna sandwiches to burgers.
All fresh and cooked to order in the kitchen.
- [Greg] A lot of the sandwich places
will load you up on bread.
They give you the hoagie rolls and things like that.
But what we've done is develop sandwiches
that go between white bread, wheat bread or sourdough.
We keep it simple.
But we make very good, wholesome sandwiches.
We use the best meats that we can buy.
So we have the deli there but
then we've also incorporated a grill top now.
You know, back in the day, the soda shop hamburger
was something that people always liked.
And so we developed that.
And again, it's what we call, not rocket science,
but it's one of those things, you'll find the quality
is there every time.
So we grill it up as you eat it. And as you order it.
We started up a meat and three
that's going over really well.
And so we offer, not only with the deli menu
and the grill menu, but they can have an offering
of Monday meatloaf for example
or Friday catfish and then the meats
and vegetables that go with it.
And again, it's all from scratch.
- [Joe] Those that save room for something sweet
are the lucky ones.
Whether they choose homemade pie or a handmade milkshake.
- [Greg] They scoop it out of the freezer.
They make it up with the syrups
and they make it up with the fruits that go in it.
The old fashioned mixers that we use.
And so it becomes a really special treat for somebody.
And that's one of the things that
when they come in the door, we introduce them to.
We say, you know, we make it from scratch.
And that includes the ice cream, the milkshakes,
the pies, the cakes.
So you're gonna experience it all.
(violin music)
- [Joe] Impromptu music is often on the menu here.
On our visit, Roots music artists, Luke Bell
and Matt Kenman played downstairs.
(dulcimer music)
While a local dulcimer club strummed away upstairs.
- [Greg] We got folks that come in
and they play dulcimers and they play banjos
and fiddles and the guitars and I envy them
that they can do that.
So, at best, what I do is I like to sit there and enjoy it.
So, it really makes for a good atmosphere.
- [Joe] Of course it's great background music
for shopping in this part of the store,
full of Amish goods to go.
- [Greg] You see it's everything from the Amish jellies
to the smoked cheeses and meats and hot sauces.
They procure them from Scottsville, Kentucky
and also from Millersburg, Ohio,
from the Amish communities there.
So they're distributed down,
they get them on a weekly basis.
So everything is obviously fresh,
it's canned and jarred the old fashioned way,
which is how the Amish do it,
which is why it's so popular I guess.
But we keep a selection here that's probably
as good or better than anybody around right now.
- [Joe] Decorating the store was an easy task
for Rufus, due to his longtime love
for collecting old stuff.
- I've been collecting antiques for 40 years.
Everybody calls it junk but I call it treasures.
- [Joe] This entire track of land is full of treasures.
Once abandoned structures that Rufus rescued
and relocated to his property.
The exception being his home.
- [Rufus] The house I live in, built in 1779.
It was the First Presbyterian Church in Wilson County.
It was a land grant from George Washington.
- [Joe] By the way, that signature covered bridge out there
is a story in itself.
- [Rufus] It's a one lane steel bridge,
came out of Fayetteville.
A friend of mine saw it on Craigslist
and I went down there and to it
and built the walls and set the bridge on it.
I said, well I'm gonna cover this bridge up.
So I just went in there and put a top on it.
- [Joe] Rufus Page is a mild-mannered,
unpretentious kind of guy,
who's creating his own Americana village of sorts.
And you can believe he loves sharing it
about as much as he loves creating it.
- When he gets his mind to something,
he takes it and moves with it.
There's only one Rufus.
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