Florida’s Highway 20 has long endured as a journeyed gateway between the state’s past and present. It traverses between wetlands and rural communities and was a preferred route for travelers before I-10 cut across the Panhandle.

Straddling the crossroads of Leon, Gadsden and Liberty counties, and nestled between a forest of spindly pines and the vastness of Lake Talquin, sits Crow’s Corner. 

Owned by Mike and Martha Crow since 2003, this gas station and convenience store was a truck stop and meat market 50 years ago. The family business has become a community staple as it provides a steady supply of animal feed, home-cooked chicken gizzards and other goods and services to the surrounding area.

It continues a legacy laid out by Mike’s parents, the owners of Crow’s Grocery from 1957 to 1968, followed by Crow’s Bar in the 1980s. 

The pandemic has slowed the steady stream of spring breakers and Forgotten Coast wanderers alike that frequent Crow’s Corner during these peak months. However, the Crows have seized this rare moment to breathe new life onto the outside of the Corner’s humble exterior with the help of muralists Sarah Painter and her partner Cosby Hayes of SPCH Walls. 

“I feel blessed and fortunate that we were able to do this,” said Mike Crow, who has wanted to see a mural go up for close to 17 years. “Right now, it will be good for people as they get back out and start traveling around to see something that they recognize as a landmark and gives them a sense of stability.” 

Though Crow and his wife are in the range of “at-risk” groups for COVID-19, he never considered closing down. It’s an in-character decision for the store that has been a beacon of hope for essential workers during multiple hurricanes, most recently Hurricane Michael, that devastated the coast. 

While many businesses have furloughed or laid off employees, Crow awarded bonuses to his “family” of workers, many who have been with them for a decade or more, and who have remained steadfast in the uncertainty of the past two months. Hand sanitizer stations line the interior of the store and Plexiglas walls separate the deli and cash register from customers.

Even as state restrictions ease up, Crow isn’t letting his guard down. 

Read the rest of the story by visiting the Tallahassee Democrat

or read more by downloading the article here