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(Continued from Page 1) Merrill ran an informal wayside inn for travelers. When people were stranded by automobile breakdowns, he put them up in his home until parts arrived and the car could be repaired. Sometimes the visitors stayed for four or five days, living like members of the family.
Merrill has been a part of the county for so long that it’s hard to remember he’s not a Rappahannock native. But he’s close to that status. His parents moved from Wisconsin to Virginia when he was just four years old. “They wanted to get where it was warmer, 1 guess,” he recalled.
Merrill entered the car business in 1915 with repair work. “Course, it didn’t take too much with model T’s,” he said, remembering days when there were fewer horses under the hood, when brakes and windows could almost count as “extras”.
Next, he had an associate dealership in Prince William County. “Then I went with the factory proper and I’ve been with them ever since,” he said.
Merrill started his own business in Washington with an inventory of two cars valued at $270 and a truck worth $290. “In those days, 1 sold a lot more cars than I do now. They were cheaper AND I was the only dealer around,” he remembered.
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