Behind the old-time veneer, see an essential country store

October 11, 2009|Matthew Bellico, Globe Correspondent

To visitors to the Green Mountain State, country stores might seem to have sprouted from the soil like sugar maples.

Merchants invariably know where to set up shop: across from a covered bridge, against a rolling hillside, or tucked into the center of a tiny hamlet. More than 100 country and general stores adorn pastoral landscapes from the Massachusetts border to the Northeast Kingdom. While that number may seem robust, there were as many as 600 doing business early in the last century. Every town had at least one, and each was a little different from the rest.

As a child, I gravitated toward their old-fashioned charms. There was something I couldn’t resist about buying whole pickles from a barrel. But most country stores offer much more than snacks to tourists. They’re sustaining elements of village culture.

One of the most rustic, and successful, is H.N. Williams Store in Dorset, a mere five miles north of the designer outlets in bustling Manchester Center.

The store has been in the same family for six generations and in its barn-like facade are features of the harness shop that was there in the 1840s. These primitive elements are found inside as well. Broad wooden floorboards and exposed beams are the rule. The flaking green wallpaper in one room looks as if it predates the presidency of Vermonter Chester A. Arthur (1881-85). Some of the family photos on the wall certainly do.

But not everything is old. Owner Billy Brownlee, a 30-something University of Vermont graduate who grew up across from his family’s store, renovated and expanded the place in 2007. The cellar now houses an extensive selection of Carhartt apparel, which Brownlee says is one of his largest draws.

Another attraction is the farmers’ market he holds in the field next to the store every Sunday in warmer months. More than 40 vendors sell here, and not just the standard fruits and vegetables, but cheese, honey, meat, and local crafts.

“It’s a way to support local families and their products,’’ says Brownlee. “You know where the food is coming from, and it keeps money in the area economy.’’

In many ways, country stores have been the greatest proponents and beneficiaries of the “Made in Vermont’’ label.

Take F.H. Gillingham & Sons in the historic village of Woodstock. Its shelves are lined with specialty items that tempt both natives who want to eat local goods and visitors who want a taste of Vermont. Wandering down the store’s creaky wooden aisles revealed the ubiquitous Vermont Common Crackers and jugs of maple syrup from regional farms, but also locally made chèvre, pasta sauce, salad dressing, smoked bacon, and pancake mix.