To say it has been a dark day for Rabbit Hash would be an understatement. The unspeakable has happened in the almost complete loss of the Rabbit Hash General Store due to fire. At approximately 9:15 on February 13, 2016 a fire was reported in the store. Multiple fire departments including Belleview-McVille, Union, Petersburg, and Burlington soon responded and fought the fire for nearly 5 hours. Despite best efforts, however, the store has been destroyed by the fire. Thankfully, no person was injured.
This community, its locals, and many, many of you have an inherent personal and emotional attachment to this place. Some of us grew up here, eating penny candy and drinking pop on the front porch of the store. Some of us discovered it later on and considered the store a true second home with friends that became family. Some of us drove down on the weekends to enjoy the weather, music on Sundays, and the history. And some of us have revolved around this place, dedicating a major part of our lives to its survival. No matter our individual experiences, we have all suffered an incredible loss and will likely never stop mourning. So, it is very difficult to look past this day and into the future. No one can really know what it holds just yet, but we do plan to rebuild. Over 185 years, the Rabbit Hash General Store has given so much to this town and its people, and thousands of others. And now, we must give back. We can start by contributing to the store’s rebuild on the official GoFundMe page (Rabbit Hash General Store – Rebuild), sharing the link to the page on social media, and by respecting the site of the fire if you visit. And we can have hope for the future of Rabbit Hash and take comfort in the fact that with the outpouring of support the town has already received, the General Store has continued to bring people together, even after its near demise.
The General Store gave us almost 200 years of memories. Now it’s time to recover and rebuild so that we, and future generations, have a place to start making new memories. “We can’t replace the historic boards and the antiques that were in there,” RHHS’s Secretary, Bobbi Kayser expressed in a Cincinnati.com article (Patrick Brennan), “but what we can replace, I think, is the spirit with the store. We’re going to need a lot of help to do that.”
(Patrick Brennan. Fire Destroys Rabbit Hash General Store. http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2016/02/13/officials-fire-rabbit-hash-general-store/80361808/)