Sarah Huckabee Sanders visits the Red Hen, and Lexington, Virginia, reels in the aftermath

Caroline Simon | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Lexington, Va. locals respond to Red Hen removal of Sarah Huckabee Sanders People in Lexington, Virginia give their opinion after the owner of the "Red Hen" in Lexington asked Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave.

LEXINGTON, Va. — A week ago, Lexington was a quiet dot on the Virginia map, nestled in the Shenandoah Valley, awash with Southern charm.

Today, the town is caught up in a divisive political controversy. When press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was refused service at the Red Hen, a restaurant here, Lexington got its 15 minutes of fame.

And not in a way the town expected — or wanted.

On Friday night, Red Hen's owner, Stephanie Wilkinson, asked Sanders to leave because of her role publicly defending some of President Donald Trump's most draconian policies: a ban on transgender people serving in the military and forced separations of families caught crossing illegally at the U.S.-Mexican border.

Soon after, Sanders shared her side of the incident, and Trump jumped to her defense, tweeting Monday that "the Red Hen Restaurant should focus more on cleaning its filthy canopies, doors and windows (badly needs a paint job) rather than refusing to serve a fine person like Sarah Huckabee Sanders."

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Over the past few days, well-wishers have left flowers outside the Red Hen. People have stopped by to take selfies or jeer. And residents have been taken aback by the level of emotion they've witnessed.

"It does strike me as remarkable that the apparent penalty for throwing someone out of a restaurant is to receive bomb threats and death threats and hate mail," said Doug Harwood, the editor and publisher of the monthly Rockbridge Advocate newspaper, which is located across the street from the Red Hen. "That's the penalty you pay these days."

Neighboring local businesses have carefully avoided the drama. Managers and owners declined comment Monday afternoon, concerned that mention in coverage of the scandal would harm their business.

"It's a small community, and so everyone I know works in some form of local business," said Madeline Haywood, a Lexington native working the counter at Lexington Coffee Shop on Monday afternoon. "A lot of people are going to take a hit because of this."

More: Red Hen restaurant that booted Sarah Huckabee Sanders has mixed health inspection record

Haywood has fielded a flurry of calls from people worried that other Lexington businesses will shun them because of their conservative beliefs. Some calls, she said, have been downright negative, bordering on harassment. And all because the coffee shop is located a couple of blocks away from the Red Hen.

“It’s definitely been difficult," said McKenzie White, who was working alongside Haywood. “It’s crazy to see little Lexington on Twitter, and President Donald Trump tweeting about it.”

Lexington doesn't fit neatly into any political category. While the town itself voted overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election, the surrounding countryside leans heavily toward Trump. Two colleges — Washington & Lee University and Virginia Military Institute — are situated here, and so are the final resting places of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.

The strongest voices in the aftermath of Sanders' visit, townspeople say, are not their own.

"Most of the attention and all the nastiness is coming from outside of Lexington," said Daniel Caruthers, who works at Earth, Fire, & Spirit, a local pottery that supplies products to the Red Hen. His business, only tangentially connected to the Red Hen, has gotten a handful of cruel Facebook comments.

And on Yelp, the Red Hen's ratings have plummeted after Sanders' visit sparked an avalanche of one-star reviews.

“It’s a small town, we love each other, we love our neighbors," Haywood said. "But differing opinions can really come through."

Contributing: Camille Fine