Five hours after Prettyboy Market in Freeland was damaged in an early morning fire June 29, owner David Lawson surveyed the wreckage, made phone calls to his insurance company and talked to customers who stopped by to offer support.

Damage to the market, at the corner of Beckleysville and Middletown roads, is estimated at $500,000, according to fire department Division Chief Michael Robinson. The one-alarm fire was called in at 3:35 a.m. by a Baltimore County policeman who saw it from the road, Robinson said.

Parkton’s career fire company, Station 60, was first on the scene. The fire apparently started in the rear of the store. The cause is still under investigation.

“I got a call from the police there was smoke in the building,” Lawson said as he looked through two charred file cabinets salvaged from the office. “When I popped up over the hill, all I could see was red lights from the fire engines. The fire had already started burning through the insulation.”

Lawson said he bought the former Parish’s store in 1990, renovated it and reopened in 1991.

This is the second incident at the small store and gas station since December. On Dec. 30, a car traveling on Middletown Road crashed into the two-pump island and sheared one pump off at ground level. Lawson had two new pumps installed but had not yet turned them on. They were not damaged in the fire.

“I’m at a total loss. I’m just about ready to give up,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed this place and the community needs it, but you can only get kicked so many times.”

Lawson said it is too soon to know whether he will reopen Prettyboy Market.

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