Over a century ago Lamberth Building Materials had its beginning when Confederate veteran, John Lamberth, began cutting railroad ties from the woodlands on his 400-acre farm, with the help of his two sons, he loaded the ties on a wagon and hauled them to a ready market at Roane's Store in upper Gloucester County.

 

  In 1910, the two sons --Melvin and Sam-- bought a sawmill and gave birth to M.B. Lamberth & Bros. (M.B. Lamberth was the father of Dr. M.B. Lamberth, Jr. of Kilmarnock.) During World War I, Melvin continued the sawmill business and Sam went back to work on the farm. It was not until the end of the war that brothers Sam, George, and Woodland opened S.C. Lamberth & Bros. offering more than cut timber to a growing community.

 

    In 1924, the first structures were erected on the Gloucester Lamberth Building Materials site for storing lumber, adding millwork machineray and planing equipment to produce doors, window frames, and duplications of handcrafted moldings for restoration of old homes. Restoration became the backbone of their operation in the depression years as contractors from many counties in Virginia sought them out for copying old mouldings and mantels.

 

    A fire in 1951 destroyed the sawmill and they quickly shifted to purchasing rough-cut lumber and then expanded their shop operation. For the next 21 years S.C. Lamberth & Bros. had one of the finest custom cabinet shops in the area. By the late 1960's George was the only brother still active in the business. With no sons to carry on the family name, he approached his two son-in-laws, Jewel Edwards and Milton Hogge, offering them the option of buying company shares owned by other members of his family. George then gradually turned over his shares to two of his daughters Ginny (Jewel Edwards wife) and Aggie (Milton's wife.)

 

    Another fire in 1972 destroyed the planing mill and the cabinet shop. by 1973, a third generation came into the business, grandsons Edwin Hogge and Bruce Edwards -- had been added to the staff. By the mid-1970's a modern office building had been added in Gloucester and the name of the company changed to Lamberth Building Materials, Inc. In 1978, the company expanded to White Stone where Albert Pollard provided a brand new structure on Route 3 from which the company is still operating. 

 

  Six years later the Gloucester and White Stone stores were separated, Jewel and Ginny Edwards acquiring the business in White Stone, and Milton and Aggie Hogge retaining the originial business in Gloucester. Within eight years, Jewel Edwards had retired, but in those years the company expanded their lines of building materials and products and added a fleet of radio-dispatched delivery trucks.

 

  Ten more years havd passed and Lamberth introduced new and improved lines of building materials, increased number of delivery trucks, added a sophisticated computer system for the time, upgraded their communication system, purchased the building from Al Pollard, added a storage building in the rear, acquired adjoining property for future expansion, elected a new President and added a Vice President. Bruce Edwards, President of the company since 1988, noted, "We can stand firmly behind our products, we are especially proud of our service, but what gives us the most pride is our staff." Since joining Lamberth's, the Sales Force has had training at Andersen Windows and Marvin Windows, Morgan Millwork Co. and Benjamin Moore Paint. They have received training in vinyl siding, skylites, roofing, power tools, and every area of building supplies. 

 

Ever since our founding days nearly a century ago, we have been proudly serving the Tidewater region of Virginia. At Lamberth Building Materials, service and customer satisfaction is our tradition. Our employees have over 250 years of combined experience in the building materials industry, and can help you with any project.

 

  As we celebrate over 100 years of service, we would like to thank every single one of our customers, contractor, and homeowner alike because without you Lamberth and our dedicated team of employees would not have had the pleasure of continuely serving the Tidewater Region of Virginia.