The front corner of O'Hurley's General Store was knocked out by a drunk driver's vehicle on June 28. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — On June 28, at around 11:30 p.m., a drunk driver careened around the corner of Highway 230 on his way into Shepherdstown and missed the curve.

He ended up ramming his vehicle into a truck in front of O’Hurley’s General Store, pushing that truck through one of the store’s front windows, before his own vehicle was deflected into the other front window of the store, destroying the walls around that corner of the building.

The driver was uninjured by the accident, though his vehicle and the store’s truck were both totaled.

This was the first major accident that had happened to the store since its founder, Jay Hurley, passed away last November. Previously, Hurley would make all of the repairs on his store, as similar accidents had happened a number of times over the store’s 45-year history, due to its location around the curve in the road.

According to Debbie Halverson, who was one of the employees Hurley bequeathed the store to upon his death, this was the most extensive damage that an accident has ever caused to the store. The last major damage that was done to the building by a vehicle crash resulted in only one of the front windows, as well as the wall surrounding it, needing replaced.

The front window is missing from O’Hurley’s General Store, where the store’s truck was forced through it on June 28. Tabitha Johnston

This time, the repair work will be much more extensive — far beyond the abilities of the store’s new owners.

A local contractor and his crew were hired to complete the repairs, Halverson said on Tuesday.

“We know that Jim Schmidt is an excellent contractor — I’ve seen him working around town for years,” Halverson said. “I knew that he would be the right person for the job, who would have a sensitivity toward what Jay’s vision was for O’Hurley’s General Store.”

According to Schmidt, the repairs are expected to take anywhere between one to two months. But Halverson said that she and her co-owners were determined to not allow that to prevent the store from operating before then, in some capacity.

“It’s always traumatic, when you see half of your building gone,” Halverson said. “We’re going to run the store from the back, while the gentlemen fix the front.”

The parking lot to O’Hurley’s General Store is taped off, as contractors work on repairing the damages from June 28’s accident. Tabitha Johnston

Since the Great Hall, located behind the accident site on the side of the store, has a door that opens onto Washington Street, it can safely be used as a location for the store to operate out of. Currently, the store’s owners are cleaning up as much of the building as possible, sorting through the items that were unharmed by the accident and preparing the Great Hall for customers. The opening date for the store’s temporary location has yet to be determined.

Among all of the sorrow the accident has caused, Halverson said there was one thing about the crash she was exceptionally grateful for. The store’s eight-year-old alley cat, Murphy, was unharmed by the accident, even though he had been in the building at the time.

“We were so relieved to learn that he had survived. He has been here at O’Hurley’s since he was a kitten,” Halverson said. “He was hiding for some time after the accident. Although he’s no longer hiding now, he’s still a little on edge. Any loud noise has him running out of the back door.”