The Vermont Country Store | A Winter Visit to Weston, Vermont
Spending a winter afternoon in Weston, Vermont, home of The Vermont Country Store, is just like taking a step back in time.
By Heather Atwell|Feb 14 2022|
Coffee By Design | Portland, Maine
Photo Credit : Katherine Keenan
In the village of Weston, Vermont, the Village Green and the surrounding homes and buildings are so serene and untouched by time that it looks perfectly normal to see a horse-drawn carriage clip-clopping down Main Street past the general store, and it’s hard to think of a more quintessential general store in America than the Vermont Country Store.
The Vermont Country Store in Weston, Vermont. Photo Credit : Heather Atwell
The Ortons, proprietors of the Vermont Country Store, have carried on the family tradition of founders Vrest and Ellen Orton, who published their first catalog in 1945 and mailed it to the people on their Christmas card list. The mail order business prospered, and they opened the brick and mortar Vermont Country Store in Weston in 1946, selling merchandise that was both durable and practical, according to Vrest’s true Yankee spirit.
The Vermont Country Store in Weston first opened in 1946. Photo Credit : Heather Atwell
The business was also inspired by Vrest’s father’s general store in North Calais, Vermont, which opened in 1897. The Weston shop, where I am today soaking in all the smells and visions, was the first restored rural general store in the nation.
“I can still recall my father’s store, where most of the men came in the evenings to wait for the horse-drawn stage that brought the mail from Montpelier, thirteen miles away,” Vrest Orton said. “The store was warm and cozy. It smelled of harness, coffee, smoky kerosene lamps, tobacco, and pine wood burning in the big stove.”
The 21st century version of the Vermont Country Store certainly lives up to its tagline, the Purveyors of the Practical and Hard-to-Find. Today, the Vermont Country Store is owned by Lyman Orton and sons Cabot, Gardner, and Eliot, 7th & 8th generation Vermonters, and 4th & 5th generation storekeepers.
As you step over the threshold, you truly do take one of those metaphorical steps back in time. Here’s a look at some of the highlights of my visit to the Vermont Country Store.
SCENES FROM THE VERMONT COUNTRY STORE
The Vermont Country Store in Weston, Vermont, knows a thing or two about good curb appeal. Photo Credit : Heather AtwellStep over the threshold and into the joy of America’s past. Photo Credit : Heather AtwellCandy, candy, everywhere! Sky Bar is a special old-fashioned New England favorite. Photo Credit : Heather AtwellJust beyond the candy is pure Vermont maple syrup, all the grades, in different bottles and different forms. Photo Credit : Heather AtwellThe toy section is filled with Slinky boxes; sock monkeys; marbles; and wooden (not plastic) toys made in America. Photo Credit : Heather AtwellThen, it’s on to the health and beauty section with hard-to-find products like Evening in Paris, Tangee Lipstick, and Anti-Monkey Butt Powder. Photo Credit : Heather AtwellThe clothing section features time-honored classics like flannel from Johnson Woolen Mills. Photo Credit : Heather Atwell
I look outside and realize the sun has set. It takes about two hours to tour the store, but I think that I’ve done what many people do when they visit: I just spent an entire afternoon (and a bit of time reliving my childhood) here.
So long, Vermont Country Store! Photo Credit : Heather Atwell
Have you ever visited the Vermont Country Store? If you can’t make it to Weston, there’s also a second location in Rockingham, Vermont.
The Vermont Country Store. 657 Main Street, Weston. 802-824-3184. vermontcountrystore.comThis post was first published in 2013 and has been updated.
Such a fun post, Heather! I love stocking up on lots of cookies, crackers, and candy — plus taking a peek at the “Little House on the Prairie”-style nightgowns and the flowery bathing caps.
It has been ages since I’ve been into The Vermont Country Store, since we have moved to Maryland 17 years ago. I so miss New England and all its quaint little stores, shops, restaurants, scenery and history. We still come home(CT) on occasion, but it’s not the same as living there. And “penny candy?” I fondly remember when you REALLY could buy a piece of candy for a penny. Boy, how I long for those long lost memorable days!!
Hi Heather. What a wonderful piece and I must say, you’ve captured all that we try to impart in our marketing efforts at VCS. I am in creative for the digital department at VCS in Manchester, Vermont. That’s our headquarters. Let me know if you’d ever like to swing by, I’d love chat with you and I’ll give you a tour around the other part of this great company.
Thanks for leaving a comment, John! I guess you are lucky not to be based at one of the stores. It seems that it would be difficult to resist all the goodies!
I love going there and your article was a wonderful trip to a magical place. I remember when they were closed on Sundays. Times change, but the store stays the same.
A few years ago my sisters and I were moseying our way thru Vermont in our way home from Maine. My sister wanted something to drink, so when I saw a store along the road I pulled in. As I climbed out of the car, I glanced across the road and there was the Vermont Country Store! I was so excited I could hardly speak! I had been shopping online there for many years! What a wonderful surprise to stumble on. Can’t wait to go back!
I love the Edmonton Country Store. Never do I go home to NH that I don’t visit and spends hours. Because of COVID I did not get to NH. Love the catalog, too.
The Vermont Country Store is absolutely magical! It transforms you back to a much simpler time. I got the pleasure of visiting in October of 2018. I am looking forward to another trip to New England and who knows maybe next time I’ll get to visit during the Christmas season.
I love online shopping with VCS. Someday, I’d love to visit. I can spend a few hours browsing the website. I can only imagine how many hours it would take me to go through the store. So many items that remind me of my childhood.
Truly a unique experiences to visit in person as we have, but this Xmas my Mom ordered me the Lanz nightgown- made with yards of beautiful soft flannel????and a surprise Tangee (the 1960’s) lipstick!!!
I checked my memory, quickly – we started going to TVCS (never forget the “The”, right?) when I was 11. That’s over 56 years ago, but the store was already legendary. Once or twice a year, on a Saturday, Dad would wake Mom & I up – sometimes even at 2 or 3 in the morning – saying, ‘Get up! We’re taking a trip!’ He wanted to visit his friend, Paul Orton, at the former Weston Bowl Mill and Mom would visit Paulie, Paul’s wife.
I got to play around in the reject pile and spend my allowance on the ‘good ones’ to make bird feeders for our house (best material for bird feeders, too!) Our family friends appreciated the odd bird feeder as well. After we’d go to the Store and shop. [We always came in to Weston via the switchback coming over from Chester way. Fun drive. Especially in snow.]
Every year since I have enjoyed their catalogue, and even though we now live in Kentucky it is a stop on any New England trip that we make. I could spend more than one afternoon overlaying old layouts, and former products, of the store and long-gone other stores in Weston in my mind. Yup – I’m an old man LOL!
Such a fun post, Heather! I love stocking up on lots of cookies, crackers, and candy — plus taking a peek at the “Little House on the Prairie”-style nightgowns and the flowery bathing caps.
It has been ages since I’ve been into The Vermont Country Store, since we have moved to Maryland 17 years ago. I so miss New England and all its quaint little stores, shops, restaurants, scenery and history. We still come home(CT) on occasion, but it’s not the same as living there. And “penny candy?” I fondly remember when you REALLY could buy a piece of candy for a penny. Boy, how I long for those long lost memorable days!!
Hi Heather. What a wonderful piece and I must say, you’ve captured all that we try to impart in our marketing efforts at VCS. I am in creative for the digital department at VCS in Manchester, Vermont. That’s our headquarters. Let me know if you’d ever like to swing by, I’d love chat with you and I’ll give you a tour around the other part of this great company.
John
Thanks for leaving a comment, John! I guess you are lucky not to be based at one of the stores. It seems that it would be difficult to resist all the goodies!
I love going there and your article was a wonderful trip to a magical place. I remember when they were closed on Sundays. Times change, but the store stays the same.
A few years ago my sisters and I were moseying our way thru Vermont in our way home from Maine. My sister wanted something to drink, so when I saw a store along the road I pulled in. As I climbed out of the car, I glanced across the road and there was the Vermont Country Store! I was so excited I could hardly speak! I had been shopping online there for many years! What a wonderful surprise to stumble on. Can’t wait to go back!
I love the Edmonton Country Store. Never do I go home to NH that I don’t visit and spends hours. Because of COVID I did not get to NH. Love the catalog, too.
The Vermont Country Store is absolutely magical! It transforms you back to a much simpler time. I got the pleasure of visiting in October of 2018. I am looking forward to another trip to New England and who knows maybe next time I’ll get to visit during the Christmas season.
Would like. Catalog visited years. Ago. Loved. It
I love online shopping with VCS. Someday, I’d love to visit. I can spend a few hours browsing the website. I can only imagine how many hours it would take me to go through the store. So many items that remind me of my childhood.
Truly a unique experiences to visit in person as we have, but this Xmas my Mom ordered me the Lanz nightgown- made with yards of beautiful soft flannel????and a surprise Tangee (the 1960’s) lipstick!!!
I checked my memory, quickly – we started going to TVCS (never forget the “The”, right?) when I was 11. That’s over 56 years ago, but the store was already legendary. Once or twice a year, on a Saturday, Dad would wake Mom & I up – sometimes even at 2 or 3 in the morning – saying, ‘Get up! We’re taking a trip!’ He wanted to visit his friend, Paul Orton, at the former Weston Bowl Mill and Mom would visit Paulie, Paul’s wife.
I got to play around in the reject pile and spend my allowance on the ‘good ones’ to make bird feeders for our house (best material for bird feeders, too!) Our family friends appreciated the odd bird feeder as well. After we’d go to the Store and shop. [We always came in to Weston via the switchback coming over from Chester way. Fun drive. Especially in snow.]
Every year since I have enjoyed their catalogue, and even though we now live in Kentucky it is a stop on any New England trip that we make. I could spend more than one afternoon overlaying old layouts, and former products, of the store and long-gone other stores in Weston in my mind. Yup – I’m an old man LOL!