Brasstown – Fire broke out at Clay’s Corner on Friday afternoon, quickly put out by property owners whose top priority was saving a feral cat named Goober.
Stephany Logan – a relative-by-marriage of Clay Logan, who owned Clay’s Corner before handing it off to his grandson Luke Logan in 2019 –said the family received word of the fire about 4:30 p.m. Friday and rushed to the scene.
“They flew down there,” Stephany Logan said. “They were worried about the cat.”
Including Luke Logan, they were able to put out the fire inside the smoke-filled building, a centerpiece of the community for decades.
“We just closed and left for the day,”Stephany Logan said. “It’s a good thing it didn’t start later.”
She said Goober was found going through the garbage when he first appeared in their lives. He was friendly and over time became the store cat, fending off mice and creepy crawlers.
Goober was inside the building as it burned. Black smoke billowed from the open door, but Goober was found mewing a short distance inside.
Goober had soot around his nose and mouth and was a little lethargic, but a quick visit to the vet found him OK to return to duty.
On Monday morning, Clay County Fire Chief Brian Henderson and assistant chief Chris Denton were on scene investigating the cause of the fire. Their conclusions were not available by press time Tuesday.
Fire scorched the interior wall on the building’s south side in proximity to a couple of refrigerators and other electric appliances, with smoke damage throughout the rest of the store.
Other than Goober’s close call, no injuries were reported.
The 1,700-square-foot building, at the corner of Brasstown Road and Old U.S. 64, was built in 1940, according to tax records.
A community general store in its early days, it more recently served mainly as a gas station with an eclectic collection of merchandise and historic pieces. Family members operate a popular food trailer next door.
The building once hosted a whimsical, tongue-in-cheek “Possum Drop” each New Year’s Eve.