MATHEWS, Va. – For brand archaeologists, the best dig site is Cracker Barrel. They are fascinating museums of America’s business history, not to mention their gift shops filled with old-time brands. Here pictured in a restaurant near Jacksonville, Florida are cans of Tidewater Long Wearing Motor Oil. We thank CatesbyMORE HERE
MECHANICSVILLE – While it is no longer made on Hope Farm in Mechanicsville, Virginia, Mrs. Fearnow’s Brunswick Stew brand is still on the market. A great Virginia recipe, it has the proper ingredients for such a stew. In fact, the only Brunswick Stew that beats it was the Rt. Rev.MORE HERE
I would like some High’s Ice Cream. Would you? BrandlandUSA.com is the website of editor and brand consultant Garland Pollard.MORE HERE
Part of the reason I love brands is because I studied them at the Irvington Country Store. When I was 15, in 1979, my father bought a country store in Irvington, Virginia on the Northern Neck. It was a cool country store, and he did the right things with it,MORE HERE
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office David Kappos and Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille will preside at the opening ceremony of a new exhibit at the National Inventors Hall of Fame and Museum on Tuesday, June 8,MORE HERE
Israel does it. Virginia does it. Britain does it. Italy does it. They even do it on Marco Island, where old native Calusa artifacts helps to define an image of the city, and the Southwest Florida kingdom that they used to rule. It’s archeology, and it’s a very under-used weaponMORE HERE
One of the more forgotten sub-brands of a major oil company is Marfak Lubrication. Marfak was the lube brand of Texaco and Caltex. If Havoline was the actual oil, Marfak was the process. I can’t say it was actually used much as a verb, as I never heard the wordMORE HERE
One of the oldest extant American tobacco brands is Dill’s. J.G. Dill was once a great Virginia tobacco company, known worldwide for its Dill’s Best pipe tobacco. While as far as we know the tobacco brand Dill’s does not survive, Dill’s Premium Pipe Cleaners, known by their yellow and redMORE HERE
We are fascinated by the whole idea of the woman’s exchange movement, which started in the 1830s to allow “nice” women to sell goods on consignment to make spending money. In an age when there were few jobs for women and working outside the home had a stigma, this wasMORE HERE
GOOCHLAND, VA – There aren’t too many drive-ins left, but some thrive. We can think specifically of Hull’s Drive In of Lexington, Virginia, where a community comes together summer nights to watch movies in their car. Hull’s almost closed, but the community rallied round, and saved the theater. There areMORE HERE