Log Cabin Country Store

I love visiting this store. There’s so much to see and you are not hurried at all. Beautiful plants, trees, statues, fountains, and that’s just the outside. Inside are all kinds of fresh fruit, vegetables, jellies and home-​made foods. There’s also some antiques and curiosity items. The owner is lovely and will answer all your questions and give you all the time you need to browse. It’s worth a stop in! Very unique but relaxed place.

OMG. Somewhere between Southern Pines and Raleigh I drove into a time vortex. That, at least, is what I told myself when I came across Log Cabin Country Store. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but my vision was assaulted by flowering plants, buzzing bees, blooming trees, quasi-​greek and roman statues, garden fountains, giant hands, blinking lighthouses, Grecian urns, and the most realistic looking black rooster statute pecking at a bag of peanuts — until I realized the rooster was moving and wasn’t a statute. And all of that was outside.
The weirdness continued inside. The inside has a really nice farmers-​market supply of food — fresh tomatoes, squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, apples, etc. and an impressive supply of local jams, jellies, preserves, and a cooler of local cheeses. All of it was reasonably priced. That wasn’t what was weird.
What was weird was the back room, with three wooden boxes of alligator eggs, snake eggs, and bat eggs — each box warning that it should be opened at your own risk. Was I being punked? I don’t know. But I wasn’t going to risk it. I think I know why traveling circuses were so popular at the turn of the last century. The fear you imagine is worse.
I got back into my car, drove away and back into the modern era. I enjoyed the trip, though. One day soon, I’m going to try and find my way back there. And this time, I’m going to open those boxes. And buy a jar of the moonshine jelly. In fact, maybe I’ll just drink it instead and then open the boxes.