A Warren County couple will soon open the doors of Drake Country Store for their fourth stint as owners.

Wendell and Anna Mae Charlton purchased the store in August and plan to open it within the next few weeks.

They are painting the front entrance, fixing light fixtures, straightening up the kitchen area and adding furniture to get the store back to how it originally was before they sold it in 2012. One piece of furniture Anna Mae plans to use is an old carrier cabinet.

“I make homemade pies and we needed something to put the homemade pies in,” Anna Mae Charlton said. “So we found this, it’s got glass doors to it so we can store our pies.”

Before the couple first purchased the store in June 1996, it was called Kitchens Grocery and had been owned by Freeman Kitchens since 1950, around the same time Freeman became local post master.

Freeman operated a post office in the store and carried all the groceries and hardware you would need, according to Eddie May Alford, who wrote a compilation of the store’s history.

The store was originally built in September 1926 by Charlie and Webb Duncan and named C. M. Duncan and Son. By 1940 the store had a feed room, two bedrooms, a kitchen and dining area. Freeman went to work for the Duncans in 1946.

The Charltons bought the store from Freeman and changed the name of the store to Drake Country Store and converted the feed room and two bedrooms into a restaurant and restrooms. Along with the restaurant, they continued to sell groceries and hardware.

“This is where everybody comes and sits and talks,” Anna Mae Charlton said. “They like to come up here and just meet and have a get together.”

Drake community members enjoy the store and volunteered their time to help the Charltons run the restaurant. Anna Mae sold plate lunches and has a fish fry every Friday.

“They have such a heart for keeping the store alive for the community,” customer Connie Tims said.

The Charltons have sold and purchased the store several times due to health issues, but they hope to keep the store running as long as possible this time around.

“I just love to meet people and I love to cook,” Anna Mae Charlton said. “I just like to be around.”

Wendell and Anna Mae are now in their 70s and have been together 50 years. 

“That’s a long time for her to put up with somebody like me,” Wendell Charlton said.

“I guess that works both ways,” Anna Mae Charlton said.

The couple owns four farms with about 150 cattle they raise and sell. All four farms are close to the store with the furthest being a little over 1.5 miles away. Wendell and Anna Mae live on one farm while their twin sons, Kent and Brent, each have a farm.

— To get to Drake, take Scottsville Road to Ky. 622, turn left and travel 7.4 miles.

— Follow faith/general assignments reporter Simone C. Payne on Twitter at twitter.com/_SimonePayne or visit bgdailynews.com.