Story by Phyllis Speidell
Photos by John H. Sheally II

Inside a restored 1924 general store in West Norfolk, memories of long-ago lifestyles live on.

Underneath the tall, original pressed tin ceiling, visitors can wander around diverse displays sure to stir recollections of decades past. Anyone who remembers J.H. Miles & Co, the 115-year-old Norfolk oyster business that closed in 2015, will enjoy seeing memorabilia from the oystering trade, including the propeller from the J.H. Miles deadrise, the Mobjack.

A miscellany of other antique and almost-antique reminders of the 1900s — toys, photos, bottles, cameras, advertising art — seem perfectly in place on shelves around the old building.

Look up and see a World War II-era Grumman brand dinghy, uniquely constructed from riveted aluminum. Bill Magann, partner in the museum with Willie Hodges, used the boat on the lake near his childhood home in Sterling Point. Nearby hangs another classic, a vintage Sid-Son hydroplane, Risky Business, built in Edison, N.J., in the early 1950s. On a far wall, a large poster of screen icon Marilyn Monroe watches over the museum.

The stars of the collection, however, are the vintage vehicles owned by Magann and Hodges. From the red 1950 Dodge Power Wagon, one of the earliest mass-produced 4×4 light trucks, to the 1955 Ford F-150 Magann recently acquired, the vehicles are all drivers that the men take on the road at least a couple times a year.

A rare 1924 Paige 6-70 — green and black — is a prime example of the luxury brand advertised, in its time, as “The most beautiful car in America.” Even after almost a century, the Paige’s oak doors still shut snugly against the car’s white oak frame.

A bright yellow, 1953 Willys Jeep, Hodges’ first automotive restoration, is in almost original condition. He found the once-dilapidated Jeep on the side of the road and bought for $200. A 1964 Chevy Carryall, predecessor of the Suburban, came to Hodges in 1966 and is currently under another restoration with a 455 Olds engine and its original license plate, “OLD BLU,” waiting for it.

A 1950 Ford panel truck, a duplicate for the one Hodges learned to drive with and another of his restorations, came from the Midwest after a long search. He had seen an old photo of his father in the same model truck and started searching. When he finally found the right model, he called the owner and asked for the “straight scoop” on its condition. The answer, “wire screen and Bondo — it starts and then it stops” failed to discourage Hodges.

“I’ll take it,” he told the seller. He drove west, got the truck running and trailered it back to West Norfolk.

“Old panel trucks are rare,” he said. “They were used hard in their businesses, and my father’s truck was part of each Hodges business.”

The brick museum building is as interesting as its collections. Evolving from a general store to a post office, a grocery store and a hardware store, the building finally housed a cabinet shop. Magann and Hodges bought the building about six years ago from the cabinetmakers, the Sparks family.

Then they began restoring the structure. They saved and restored the white beadboard walls, the pressed tin ceiling and the skylight. The shelving is original, as is the old rolling library ladder used to reach the top shelves. They replaced the rotted-beyond-salvation hardwood floors, replaced the metal awning on the street side of the building and added a sophisticated security system to the now climate-controlled building.

The restoration, like the collection, is a work in progress — a place, Magann said, “to keep the stuff we collect.”

The unofficially named M & H Museum welcomes visitors but keeps an erratic schedule. To arrange a visit, email willie@hodgesandhodges.com.