New Year, New Thoughts - A Look Back at Year 1 of The Sing Oil Blog

Reflections on 2021 with The Sing Oil Blog

"It's way low. Pa's gonna know. I gotta tote a can to the Sing Oil 'fore Pa gits back"

Page 45, Where the Crawdads Sing

Twenty twenty-one not only brought great tragedy for many, but also great opportunity for others.  Had you asked me two years ago what I would be doing, some of my answers would come to fruition.  On the other hand, I never would have believed the degree of change remote work would bring to our society — or that I would take pictures of random gas stations and stores for a historical retail blog.  Had it not been for an internet search I made after a  vague recollection of '90s Publix decor, this blog would not have existed.  At that time, I had plenty of knowledge and content on Sing Oil Company, I just did not have an outlet.  I also would not have believed it if somebody had told me that I would want to write long, drawn out articles for fun! Nonetheless, my search in January, 2021, lead me to The Albertsons Florida Blog where my interest was piqued.  In a world filled with division, I had no idea that the internet continued to have such bastions of innocence left (like a blog devoted to describing the history of a failed grocer in Florida).  With the progression of the year came the progression of this blog that included more extensive coverage, interior tours, and endless newspaper rabbit holes.  While I am still in the process of shoring up some of my earlier posts that consisted of little more than an old picture and some satellite imagery, I continue to find new and interesting retail relics as I visit more former Sing Stores.  

Below I have a list of the stations I have covered during the first year of the blog.  Make sure to look at posts I have revised since their original publications because I added a lot of content to them:

Post	Location	Publication Date	Revision Status
Thomasville #5	Thomasville, GA	1/29/2021	January 26, 2022
Powder Springs	Marietta, GA	2/02/2021
Columbus #2	Columbus, GA	3/13/2021	Will revisit
Port St. Joe	Port St. Joe, FL	3/21/2021	September 9, 2021
Albany #3	Albany, GA	3/31/2021
Redan	Stone Mountain, GA	6/07/2021
Tallahassee #3	Tallahassee, FL	6/20/2021	January 11, 2022
Perry #1	Perry, GA	6/23/2021	November 24, 2021
Rockbridge	Stone Mountain, GA	7/15/2021
Columbus #7	Columbus, GA	8/04/2021	Will revisit
Columbus #8	Columbus, GA	8/12/2021
Tallahassee #12	Tallahassee, FL	9/02/2021
Bradfordville	Tallahassee, FL	9/16/2021	January 25, 2022
Columbus #4	Columbus, GA	9/29/2021
Carrollton	Carrollton, GA	10/20/2021
Laurel	Laurel, MS	11/12/2021
Tallahassee #9	Tallahassee, FL	12/07/2021
LaGrange #2	LaGrange, GA	12/17/2021
LaGrange #4	LaGrange, GA	1/07/2022

Midway through the year, I decided to photograph stores as I wrote about them.  The first of these posts was Columbus #8, with subsequent posts having at least one picture I had taken of the store.  I intend to photograph additional stores from my earlier posts, (if they haven't been torn down) hopefully in the next year.

The Origins of the Project

When I found this hobby however-many-years ago, all I had was a box of disorganized old photographs and the vague memories of people around town.  Several years later, I found a list of station names (ex. LaGrange #2, Tallahassee #10, Trikum, Bogalusa) which still wasn't very helpful on its own.  Having not stepped foot into a Sing Store, I never imagined I would find out where those pictures were taken and what these fifty-something locations in a list meant.  Until, I realized I had a giant puzzle in front of me.  A real-life puzzle.  A real-life puzzle with lots of missing pieces, several extra pieces, and some just plain trash. 

The station list was like the front of the puzzle box and turned out to be my biggest guide; while I had no clue that Trikum, Redan, Rockbridge, and Sandy Plains were all roads in the Atlanta metro or where Tallahassee #3, Tallahassee #4, Tallahassee #6, Tallahassee # . . . were located, I at least had a guide.  At the time, an internet search for Sing Oil Company wouldn't warrant much more than results for "Singapore Petroleum Company" or a couple of listings for "CorporationWiki" that didn't have any useful information.  It took boredom, and the Leon County, FL property records, for me to find my first breadcrumb along the trail.  

Having known where several of the Tallahassee stations were, I decided to punch in an address and see what I could find in the database.  Much to my surprise, Leon county had copies of the original deeds where Sing Oil Company had bought and sold the property; the property description even stated "Sing Stop 'N Shop" nearly two-decades after the company had dissolved.  I don't think I would have come this far if I had not used Tallahassee as my test market — it was one of very few regions to have such an extensive database (Had I started on Jackson, MS, this blog would have never existed!).  From there, the pieces slowly began to come together as more and more of my pictures found modern-day matches.  Eventually, I found and confirmed all 54 stations that were open in 1990, which completed the map that can be found here.  From there, I was able to piece together what a Sing Store looked like on the inside by visiting numerous former stations and spotting common traits.  My historic pictures helped, but primarily the ones for Bradfordville and Gulfport because most stations would have been remodeled with that decor package pre-merger.  The rest is history (literally).  The final piece is the wealth of knowledge available in historical newspaper databases.

Most popular posts of the year

Tallahassee #3

LaGrange #2

LaGrange #4

My favorite posts of the year

Favorite Story: Tallahassee #3 - It was great to talk to Teal Mitchell as she remembered her fateful day in the "drive thru"

Favorite Historical Discovery: Port St. Joe - Although I wish I could have toured this vastly original station before Hurricane Michael hit in 2018, I still found loads of historical material on this location — and a crime mystery

Favorite Tour: LaGrange #2 - Making Friday date nights complete for over 50 years! (featuring orange tile)

Second Favorite Tour: Laurel & Bradfordville - Sister stations deserve the same love and one post would not be complete without the other (Sorry Tallahassee #12)

Most Creative: Thomasville #5 - This "flashy" post includes a short story about a styrofoam cup, an old video filmed at the station, and a mention of Honey Boo Boo.  You seriously should check this one out!

I had fun writing the other posts too and it is hard to narrow them down to just a few.  I am surely looking forward to what posts will come forth over the next year.  Let's just say, I have a few surprises I have found up my sleeve.

New Stuff

One of those surprises is the launch of a new series — The Sing Oil Blog: More Than Convenience.  The first edition is already available as part of my Thomasville #5 post refresh, where we explore a nearby store I photographed nearly five years ago, just before it was remodeled.  The goal of this series to is examine other retail relics not associated with Sing Oil Company but are located within the same area as the post's featured store.  When I realized I had slowly been accumulating pictures from other retail categories, I wanted to find a way to share them and their story.  I evaluated my stores of interest and found that most of them were within five miles of a Sing Store.  How fitting!  Now I can add some diversity to the blog's content while also staying close to my mission of documenting the regional gas retailer.  Be on the lookout for a visit to a certain Floridian retailer and another post with a sprinkle of Midwestern flair.

Amoco

1990's Amoco sign on US 90 in Greenville, FL - May 2017

On another topic, I wanted to share a picture I took a few years back.  I've always had an interest in the American Oil Company, not only because they are the successor to Sing, but also because it is crazy how such a prevalent brand that I have vivid memories of could disappear so quickly.  While I got to take a look at a modern Amoco in Carrollton, there is something about the original company that fascinates me.  For those who are wondering, the picture above was taken in 2017 in a tiny town named Greenville, Florida.  Even more surprising to me is how such a well preserved torch-and-oval has lasted into the 2020's!  I don't know much about the station or the market that this sign once served, but I knew I couldn't resist the opportunity to capture a glimpse of it for myself.

The Quote

In reference to my quote at the beginning of the post, The New York Times bestseller Where the Crawdads Sing mentions a fictional Sing Oil station several times throughout the novel.  In addition to the quote above, Sing is again mentioned on page 52 and 61.  Some may call this a coincidence in name and unrelated to the small company at the focus of this blog.  Normally, I would agree but Sing did operate several stations in the Carolinas around the time-period this book is set.  Furthermore, Delia Owens (the author) is from Thomasville, GA and certainly would have seen a number of Sing stations during her childhood.  Although the book is set in North Carolina, much of the scenery depicts mid-century life in Thomasville and other scenery descriptions have been compared to SoWeGa landmarks by South Georgia locals.  I have not finished the book; however, it seems like a good read for a popular title (and a good tie in for this post!).

Cheers to another year!

- The Sing Oil Blogger