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By JANE BANGLEY
Rappahannock New* Staff Writer
Ned and Alica Overton remember driving by the Toll House on Route 211 and thinking how perfect the historical little building would be for an antiques and crafts business.
They were members of a cooperative shop in Gainesville where seven antique dealers took turns selling their wares. “We decided we were ready to branch out,” said Alica.
The two noticed a For Rent sign at the Toll House, they contacted the owner and opened their “Enchanted Forest” antiques and crafts shop three weeks ago.
“We opened the front room on the first weekend, but people would walk right through to the back room and then want to go upstairs,” Alica said. “The building is so appealing that people want to come in and see it besides looking at what we have to sell.”
The building was built in 1850 and served as the Toll House for travelers on the Sperryville Turnpike. There are three rooms downstairs and an upstairs loft room. The Overtons use one of the downstairs rooms as an office.
Ned and Alica had intended to rent out the back and upstairs to other business people but decided against it when they noticed the customers’ interest in all of the rooms.
“We like having everything ours because, at the end of the day, everything in the cash box is ours, too,” said Ned. ‘We had to hustle, though, to find more furniture and crafts to put in the other rooms.”
The Overtons get most of their furniture at auctions and many of the hand crafts are made by people in Northern Virginia.
“Since we’ve opened, people have come in and told us that they have pieces of furniture to sell, which is a real advantage to having our own place,” Ned said. We’re also building up quite a portfolio of crafts people’s names since someone we deal with will refer us to others.”
Ned said that he and Alica have become more active in acquiring furniture and crafts since opening the " shop so they can keep the three rooms filled with quality antiques and crafts.
We have met so many nice people doing this, and both of us enjoy the work equally,” said Alica. “Usually the woman is the one who would enjoy this more, but we both like going to auctions, talking to dealers and working in the shop.”
The two share an interest in antiques because they both grew up with antique furniture, said Ned. Their love for certain pieces interferes with their business at times.
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