Alvin 'Doc' Berlin's drug store and soda fountain, right, was a social center in mid-century Olney; doctors, farmers, tradesmen--all drifted in for refreshment and conversation. In front of Albert Murphy's tin shop, left, stood a tollgate where his father Michael, also a tinsmith, collected tolls on the Washington-Brookeville Turnpike until the state took over today's Georgia Avenue in 1914.

Rare relic of 'Mechanicsville,' Olney House today holds a restaurant and shops. Clara May Downey bought the pre-1800 home in the 1930s to safeguard it from development.