M.A. Kleen

A family-run garage and filling station sits along Highway 301, the Richmond Turnpike, in rural Caroline County, Virginia. In the 1940s, the highway ran from South Carolina to Baltimore, Maryland. I don’t know when the Penola Food Mart opened along this stretch of highway south of Bowling Green, but Google Street View shows it was active in 2008 and closed by 2012. It’s sat abandoned ever since, and the house next door’s windows are blackened by soot from a fire. This is how an oasis ends.