                             THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, March 7, 1996                TAG: 9603070152
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN              PAGE: 10   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: SUFFOLK                            LENGTH: Long  :  486 lines

A MINI SHOPPING MECCA AS THE COMMUNITY OF DRIVER GROWS, SO DO THE OPTIONS FOR CONSUMERS. WITHIN BLOCKS, STORES OFFER ANTIQUES, GIFTS, JEWELRY, CLOTHING AND MORE.

IN THE MARKET for a classic Adirondack lawn chair? How about a one-of-a-kind Tiffany-style lamp? Or maybe a glitzy line-dancing ensemble or a full set of camouflage hunting gear?

Whether you are browsing for a bargain on furniture or a pair of peacocks to strut around the garden, you can find it in Driver, a tiny Suffolk crossroads community that is developing into a shoppers' haven.

Less than five miles from the chain stores of the Chesapeake Square Mall area, downtown Driver snuggles into its country setting along Kings Highway, between Bennett's Pasture Road and Nansemond Parkway. It is the kind of place where folks still take the time to chat and where a roadside farm stand can sell produce on the honor system.

For decades, local folks and savvy shoppers from Portsmouth, Chesapeake and Suffolk have come back again and again to Driver's established businesses: the Driver Variety Store, Arthur's General Store, the Knot Hole Station, the Driver Trading Post and Virginia Beach Feed and Seed.

Recently, several new businesses have opened and hope to lure more dollars to the community with their unique merchandise and cordial shopkeeping.

For 20 years, Phyllis Murphy, a Suffolk resident who works for Portsmouth's Parks and Recreation Department, had been a partner in the Driver Trading Post, specializing in used furniture and antiques. On her hunch that the area was ready for an upscale gift and antique shop, Murphy closed out the Driver Trading Post last fall and opened her new shop, Harmony House Antiques, in December.

The shop occupies a renovated, two-story Greek gothic building that was originally built for the Masons' Harmony Lodge in 1939. Now painted a soft blue with an impressive pair of leaded glass entrance doors, the building was stripped down to its shell and rebuilt into a bright and airy showroom for Murphy's ecletic selection of gifts and antiques.

Murphy and her daughter, Lee Murphy, have stocked stained glass lamps by Portsmouth glass artist Howard Taylor, hand-carved duck decoys by Suffolk craftsman T. Wayne Noolan, collectable glassware and crystal, Oriental accent pieces, country crafts, antique furniture, and a wide selection of estate and antique jewelry. ``We will probably be unpacking for the next six months,'' Lee Murphy said.

``We don't really specialize in any one thing,'' she said. ``We want to stay basically country, and we lean toward the Victorian.''

Tucked among the antiques at the Murphys' shop are floral and eucalyptus arrangements designed by Lee Murphy and scores of other items that are new or nearly new but seem to blend with the old.

``Phyllis has been in the business so long that when people are ready to sell things they give us a call,'' Lee Murphy said, adding that the Murphy team works with numerous estate sales to stock their inventory.

Next door to the Harmony House Antiques Dennis Vosburgh and his daughter, Kim LeDoux, have opened Adirondack Custom Framing. Vosburgh recognized LeDoux's talent in matting, framing, and building shadow boxes and decided it was time for them to open their own shop.

Since the father/daughter duo came originally from upstate New York, the Adirondack name seemed a natural as did the idea of adding a full line of the popular Adirondack furniture (chairs, loveseats, coffee tables and end tables) to their custom framing and print business.

The Driver crossroads' down home country atmosphere took on a distinctively Western feeling in September 1993 when Ronnie Gould opened Rio Grande Traders there. Since then he has moved twice, each time to a larger store on the crossroads. ``Business has blossomed,'' Gould said from his latest location, the former Driver Trading Post.

Fortunately, Gould's current store triples the amount of space he had before because he intends to fill every square foot. On his frequent buying trips to New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico Gould gathers Southwest style furniture, both metal and wood, Pendleton trade blankets, Native American crafts and decorative accessories, turquoise jewelry, old saddles and whatever other unusual items happen to catch his eye. ``We don't want to be ordinary,'' he said.

In addition to a full line of Western style clothing favored by line dancers, Gould discounts name brand Western hats and has introduced Western clothes of an earlier era, the styles Wyatt Earp and his brothers might have worn.

Frank ``Buster'' Miller, a Portsmouth native retired from his job, moved in across the street from the Rio Grande Traders to open Buster's Barter. Miller deals in antiques, collectables, and used furniture and takes the word barter seriously.

``I do a lot of horse trading, swapping, buying and selling for other people,'' he said.

Back in the 1700s Driver was known as Persimmon Tree Orchard. Both Benedict Arnold and British General Charles Cornwallis passed through town in 1781 and in 1913 then secretary of state William Jennings Bryan made a speaking appearance there.

After the Civil War the crossroads gained its current identity, named after E.J. Driver, who operated a general store there.

Located amid acres of truck farms, Driver had its own train station served by the Atlantic Coast Line and was the shopping and social center of the area.

Today E.J. Driver might still recognize the crossroads, but he would certainly be surprised by the development surrounding it. New homesites, as well as a race track complex, are in development along Nansemond Parkway. Just a short walk from the crossroads, Driver Station, a new subdivision of 81 homes, offers houses priced at $125,000 and above. ``Our buyers have been intrigued by the area,'' said Sylvia Bilby, sales agent for the development. ``They love the country feeling and convenience blend.''

The extended Parker and Arthur families has been a part of the Driver mercantile scene since the beginning of the century. Arthur's General Store, in business since 1925, also served as the Driver Post Office until the mid 1970s. Today at Arthur's Gregory Parker stocks general groceries and gourmet foods as well as leather garments, candles and decorative tins.

A cross Driver Lane, at the Driver Variety Store, Craig Parker runs the business that has been in the family since his great-great-uncle Brinkley opened it in the early 1900s. Here is where you can find hunting supplies, military clothing and supplies, and hardware of every kind. Here is where you can also usually find the man frequently called the unofficial mayor of Driver, Gordon ``Red'' Parker.

SUFFOLK

I N THE MARKET for a classic Adirondack lawn chair? How about a one-of-a-kind Tiffany-style lamp? Or maybe a glitzy line-dancing ensemble or a full set of camouflage hunting gear?

Recently, several new businesses have opened and hope to lure more dollars to the community with their unique merchandise and cordial shopkeeping.

F or 20 years, Phyllis Murphy, a Suffolk resident who works for Portsmouth's Parks and Recreation Department, had been a partner in the Driver Trading Post, specializing in used furniture and antiques. On her hunch that the area was ready for an upscale gift and antique shop, Murphy closed out the Driver Trading Post last fall and opened her new shop, Harmony House Antiques, in December.

``We don't really specialize in any one thing,'' she said. ``We want to stay basically country, and we lean toward the Victorian.''

Tucked among the antiques at the Murphys' shop are floral and eucalyptus arrangements designed by Lee Murphy and scores of other items that are new or nearly new but seem to blend with the old.

N ext door to the Harmony House Antiques Dennis Vosburgh and his daughter, Kim LeDoux, have opened Adirondack Custom Framing. Vosburgh recognized LeDoux's talent in matting, framing, and building shadow boxes and decided it was time for them to open their own shop.

T he Driver crossroads' down home country atmosphere took on a distinctively Western feeling in September 1993 when Ronnie Gould opened Rio Grande Traders there. Since then he has moved twice, each time to a larger store on the crossroads. ``Business has blossomed,'' Gould said from his latest location, the former Driver Trading Post.

Fortunately, Gould's current store triples the amount of space he had before because he intends to fill every square foot. On his frequent buying trips to New Mexico, Texas and Mexico, Gould gathers Southwest style furniture, both metal and wood, Pendleton trade blankets, Native American crafts and decorative accessories, turquoise jewelry, old saddles and whatever other unusual items happen to catch his eye. ``We don't want to be ordinary,'' he said.

``I do a lot of horse trading, swapping, buying and selling for other people,'' he said.

After the Civil War the crossroads gained its current identity, named after E.J. Driver, who operated a general store there.

Located amid acres of truck farms, Driver had its own train station served by the Atlantic Coast Line and was the shopping and social center of the area.

T he extended Parker and Arthur families has been a part of the Driver mercantile scene since the beginning of the century. Arthur's General Store, in business since 1925, also served as the Driver Post Office until the mid 1970s. Today at Arthur's Gregory Parker stocks general groceries and gourmet foods as well as leather garments, candles and decorative tins.