Callao is all about location, location, location

Perched on the northwest corner of Northumberland County, Callao, Virginia has long held a strategic position. Travelers from the west, whether traveling on Route 360 or Route 202, have to pass through Callao to reach the county seat at Heathsville and the Chesapeake Bay communities beyond.

For that reason, Callao has long been the commercial hub for Northumberland County, a place where residents could do their banking, grocery shopping, pick up medicine at the pharmacy, and visit with one another. Robert W. Booth grew up in Callao, and today works there, as an agent with Shore Realty.

“It hasn’t changed all that much. We had drug stores, hardware stores, a bank, and a grocery store,” Robert said.

“My grandfather owned a service station in the 1930s, and built a new one in 1956. It was where the parking lot for Callao Supermarket is now,” he added.

One thing that Callao had then, but doesn’t have now, was a movie theater. Robert remembers is as a great haven for area children.

“The theater was across the screen from what is now my office there’s a hobby shop in there now. I remember when it was in operation. Tickets were a quarter and Cokes were a nickel,” he said.

Today Callao is home to a Rite Aid Drug Store, Callao Supermarket, Movie Time Rentals, Callao Supply, a large hardware store, Pritchard and Fallon, a major heating and air conditioning contractor, as well as many other business. But perhaps no industry is so well represented as real estate.

Among the real estate firms calling Callao home are United County-Bay River Realty, Joe Self Realty, Shore Realty, Anchor Realty, Dailey Realty, Van Land Realty, and Northern Neck Properties. Robert says there’s a very good reason for that. As any good agent will tell you, it’s location, location, location.

“This is a very good location for real estate offices. As people drive into Northumberland County, most likely they are going to enter through Callao,” he said.

A generation ago, he says, there were very few real estate agents in Northumberland County. The few working here, he said, were based in the Callao area.

Besides being home to the Northern Neck’s growth industry, another factor bodes well for Callao’s commercial future. Plans are underway to install a sewer line in the community.

“Whenever commercial businesses, especially restaurant franchises, start investigating possible locations, they look for an area that is served by a sewer,” said Northumberland County Administrator Kenny Eades. “I expect that once Callao has its sewer, it will experience even more commercial growth.”