I grew up just down the street from an Iowan general store used by Laura Ingall's Wilder's family. It was located in the basement of a gorgeous Victorian house that I thought looked quite a bit like a yellow gingerbread house. I can still remember the magic of walking into it with my elementary school class, seeing jars of candies and a soda-fountain come to life amidst a few small coins and the hum of excited children. So maybe I'm partial. I just know that as I watched them board up my Connecticut town's general store this past spring, I couldn't help but wonder just how many general store gems were still left in little nooks and crannies of the country. I am happy to report that one of my favorite general stores is alive and well and begging to be noticed by any purveyors of New England goods....
I'd like to introduce you to a local establishment that is not only a seller of a number of local products, but in its existence represents a local way of life. Founded, and still run and owned by the Orton Family five generations later, The Vermont Country Store has become a tourist attraction unto itself, representing the best of ages past and present.
Started in 1946, this Green Mountain State company is referred to as "The Purveyors of the Practical and Hard-To-Find." The company, which looks like a general store inside from its candy store counter to its local apothecary section, is known for providing customers with hard-to-find products. Only in a small local business, such as this one, can a customer put in special requests to have an old product specially made. The business prides itself on bending over backward to do just that. Located in Weston, Vermont, and now also in Rockingham, Vermont, the locations feature locally-made Vermont products like maple syrups, cheeses, personal-care remedies, penny candies, household products, and, and, and... I could go on and on!
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It's a trip down memory lane so masterfully paved I don’t
even care whose memories I’m remembering." Kate Bolic,
Where the Past Is Ever in Stock 12.15.2013 The NY Times
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Consider going out of your way to visit this treasure of a New England small business that supports Vermont's Farm to Table initiative. I know I look forward to visiting the Vermont Country Store again soon. Wish you lived closer to Vermont?! Me, too! Well, in the summer, anyway... In the meantime, the Vermont Country Store's products can all be found online on their fantastic website located here. And their awesome non-profit foundation, dedicated to bettering small towns all across America? Check it out here!
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| "People from all over the United States who would not go out of their way to visit a grocery store are eager to travel enormous distances to see an old-fashioned country store in Weston, Vermont, a charming hill village of 500 persons. The Vermont Country Store, with its dimly lit interior and pervading odors of kerosene, Vermont cheese, and leather goods is not only a mecca for tourists but a forum for discussion.... Above all The Vermont Country Store is keeping a bright picture of an American way of years past." The New York Times |
Take a tour of this amazing store with Martha:
