Travis Hale
Co-owner & Pharmacist
In 1913, William Walden Ashby opened a pharmacy in a brick building on Main Street. More than a century later, the pharmacy still operates in that very same location — the oldest pharmacy in Fauquier County and the Virginia Piedmont region north of the Rapidan River.
William Ashby died of the flu during the great pandemic of 1918, and his brother Evan, together with Dr. George Russell Cottingham, carried the business forward. In 1944, Evan’s niece lost her husband in a hunting accident and was left to raise two sons, Wilbur and Robbie, on her own. Evan invited the family to live in the apartment above the store, free of rent.
Wilbur Heflin, the elder of the two brothers, got his start at Remington Drug washing dishes. As he watched his uncle run the store and share his wisdom, his admiration grew — and so did his interest in pharmacy. He went on to own a pharmacy in Idaho, then returned home in 1972 to buy Remington Drug from his uncle. Wilbur owned and operated the pharmacy for 43 years.
On December 1, 2015, Wilbur sold the business to Travis Hale and Al Roberts. Travis, a Culpeper resident, had worked at Remington Drug since 2007. Al, of Warrenton, had helped out on his days off since the late 1970s and joined full time in 2006, after Rhodes Drug Store in Warrenton closed. Together they kept what worked — the personal service, the soda counter, the deep ties to the community — while adding the modern conveniences patients expect today, from online refills to medication synchronization to home delivery.
The marble soda fountain installed in the 1930s is still here, with its red stools and the same ice-cream and shakes patrons have ordered for generations. (For a stretch, Remington Drug even sold gasoline to its customers, right up until the mid-to-late 1970s.) Needs and services have changed over the decades, but the commitment to this community never has. When you call, you’ll speak to a person and when you walk in, someone usually knows your name.
