Then and Now: The Cricket’s Nest

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The one-room, 53 year-old wooden building was originally the Jones Cash Store on Peace Haven Road.  Renamed “The Country Store,” repurposed as an antique and craft shop, and relocated to Country Club Road, the building was donated to the city in May 1976 to be moved to South Fork Park.

Today, this original building has been expanded at least five times to accommodate the arts and crafts fashioned and consigned by Forsyth County senior citizens.

Beginning with 25 member craftsmen, the shop is known today as the Cricket’s Nest, with more than 600 members who fill the shop at 4401 Country Club Road with handmade, unique, and seasonal items for sale to the public.

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Check out the Cricket’s Nest website for news about hours of operation, membership, upcoming crafts festivals and events, and other news at www.cricketsnest.com.  The Cricket’s Nest also has a Facebook presence with current announcements, often made by members concerning items they have just placed in the shop for sale.  Join Facebook through the website.

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Members bring in new items each week, so each week it’s a brand new store!  Here are some of the handcrafted items available at the Cricket’s Nest: baby and layette items, American Doll clothes, children’s clothing and toys, seasonal items and gifts (currently featuring winter and Valentine’s Day), scarves and hats, bags of all descriptions, eyeglass cases, draft dodgers, dog bone pillows, local history books, jewelry, woodcrafted items, kitchen accessories, quilts, furniture, wreaths, and more.  The photos in this post show a few of the items for sale at the Cricket’s Nest.

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Drop by and see what’s new at the Cricket’s Nest!

Black and white photo courtesy of Forsyth County Public Library Photograph Collection.  Current photos by Molly Grogan Rawls.

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8 Responses

  1. Robert says:

    Hi Molly,

    Do you know where on Peace Haven Road the store was originally located?

    Interesting article and great website!

    • Hello Robert,

      Thanks for your kind comment about the website.

      I do not have a location for the building on Peace Haven.

      Have you come across any information in your research?

      • Robert says:

        I’m working on it, and looking at some old aerial photos I have an idea where in was. I did stop by the Cricket’s Nest and they said they’d heard it was somewhere between Allistair Road and Country Club but they weren’t 100% sure. There was a Jones family that lived on Peace Haven right near Mountain View Road and Hearthside Drive who owned lots of land in the early to mid 1900’s. They actually built Peace Haven Park in the ’20s that eventually became Jacquline Dorminy’s Camp Dor-Ker, and today Peace Haven Pool on Hearthside Drive. It’s my belief Peace Haven Road was named in the late ’40s after the old park.

        I’ll be asking some of the oldtimers in the area if they know where the store was. Since it was still there up until 1976 someone around here surely will be able to remember.

        • Thanks, Robert, for the additional information. Please let me know if you learn more about the location.

          • Robert says:

            Hi Molly,

            After asking around for the past year, I finally found a gentleman who knew exactly where the Jones Cash Store was located. He has lived around Peace Haven Road for 86 years and had frequented the the store the whole time of it’s existence. He said it was at the north corner of Peace Haven Road and Woodgrove Lane. Woodgrove was built a few years after the store was moved. There was an old house just to the left of the store that was torn down to make way for the new road. I was able to spot the store on early aerial photos, so I made an overlay with an early aerial onto a modern day satellite photo showing the store’s location today. I can send you the image if you’d like.

          • Robert, It’s good to hear from you. Yes, I’d love to see the overlay image.

        • Alean Jones says:

          Robert
          My grandma is one of the granddaughters of the jones family my grandmother ran the store and told me many stories. When the Jones family lived on peace Haven Road they biuld a house that all the neighbors said they would never pay of but they had it payed for before it was a year old. Now where there house set is a road. But back to the point. My grate grandmother and grandfather owned the store when it was the country store. We always referred it as the nickel and dime store. My grandmother Alean Jones was one of three. Ira and Bruce was nine or ten when he passed.

          My grate grandmother was Mary bell Norman Jones and great grandfather was Charlie weaver Jones.

  2. Alean Jones says:

    My grandma ran the store and my great grandmother and grandfather owned the store. It was located on peace Haven. right around 815, and 812 peace Haven Road.

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