Five thousand souls, and a downtown that suggests it used to be bigger.

The name? Glad you asked: "Its nickname is "The Only One" because no other town in the world is known by the same name. The origin of the word Ahoskie, which was originally spelled 'Ahotsky'" came from the Wyanoke Indians who entered the Hertford County area at the beginning of European settlement."

How it came from the Wyanoke, Wikipedia does not deign to say.

Well, let's look around. You might fear this is typical:

Windows boarded, painted over - and small doors put in the windows, which were then boarded over. If I had to guess, I'd say it had been a grocery one day, and had neighbors on either side. It's like an old man whose best friends have passed away.

A ghost ad that either was done long ago or long, long ago: in the late 60s they like to copy Art Nouveau styles, and I wouldn't be surprised if that was from that era. On the other hand . . .

"Exclusive for yarns" seems an archair locution.

It's like a buiding that strains krill and plankton to survive:

If you can figure out what's going on down in the bottom right-hand quadrant, put it in the comments. That's just one messed-up building.

When the drugstore goes, the downtown goes.

Established in 1947, the internet says. Don't think the facade dates from that era. The brick looks like it's late 70s / early 80s, but the brick on the pillar is 50s. They took a few runs at it, I guess.

If "Walking Dead" was shot in the 60s:

Of course, places like this exist now, so the Walking Dead could be set in modern times and still have that 60s signage vibe.

No one ever praised that "new fridge smell," did they.

Gold-leaf handpainted sign. It was a proud downtown.

The bottom might have worked if they hadn't botched the midsection:

The windows rhyme, even though the original windows were much wider. But that lousy wooden abomination - it almost gives the building a hideous grin.

They loved to paint their brick in Ahoskie:

This is notable, if oddly scaled:

It looms. Banks should rise, not loom. The pediment is too big and dull; the columns look trapped. The entryway looks like a door comes down after you enter and you never get out.

I like it, though. It's something grand, and everyone was proud when it was built.

An unexpectedly elegant array:

The Federal Style. Every town profited from a handsome structure like this.

On the other hand: Haircut and bricking, painting and A WHITE PICKET GATE for a door to the upper floors.

Not that anyone went upstairs. There were probably lawyers and dentists up there, accountants, or apartments. Perhaps one day there will be residents again, but I wouldn't pull up an old metal sofa and wait.

Another inscrutible arrangement: obviously, it had big showroom windows. The sign says FURNITURE. There was a bay for the delivery truck. But . . .

What was the reason for the second-floor window arrangement, and the deep deep doorway?

Finally: a gem.

An old pre-war service station. The pumps are gone, but they still works on cars.

That's something.