Travelogue

I was really excited about surprising the Andrew and Tommy with a stop at the Vermont Country Store in Weston. I had never been to it, but they had been there with their grandparents the previous winter and couldn't stop talking about it for hours afterwards. Tommy still played the alien punching puppet named "Goop" that he had bought there. It was really cute. You used your fingers to push two levers under his cape to make it punch. It was really cute for about 5 minutes of punching, but then I wanted to rip its little arms off.

When we pulled into the parking lot across the street, I expected the boys to squeal with delight when they saw where we were. Instead I was greeted with blank stares and "Do we have to get out?" You got to be kidding me. Was I in the right place? I went to a phone booth on the corner (pre cell phone days) and called my Mom at home to find out just where the country store was that they took them to. Route 100 in Weston. So I was in the right place after all. I went back to the RV and told the kids where we were. Now they did squeal with delight. They didn't recognize the place because my father had parked in the back parking lot when they were here.

I love country stores, and this one was one of the best. They had such an amazing variety of stuff there--old apothecary items, old-fashioned candies, pies and pastries, Vermont cheeses, Christmas collectibles, antiques, and some of the best novelty toys I have ever seen. The kids made a beeline for the toy section and Tom immediately fell in love with a mate for his punching alien puppet--"The Fighting Nun" who has a "habit of fighting for what's right." Now "Goop" and "The Nun" could battle it out and not bother anyone else.

Description

The Vermont Country Store on Route 100 in Weston offers a real country store experience. There is something for everyone at this store--Christmas collectibles, antiques, home furnishings, pies and pastries, Vermont cheese, an old-fashioned apothecary, clothing, candy, and novelties of all sorts. It's like shopping in a museum. In fact, the entire village of Weston, including the store, is listed on the National Historic Register.

The store was first founded in 1946 by Vrest and Ellen Orton. Their goal was to provide useful and functional products for the farm families of Vermont. They printed their first catalog that year and mailed it to everyone on their Christmas card list. The store grew considerably after it was featured in a 1952 Saturday Evening Post. The Orton family still runs the store today and their motto remains, "We sell products that don't come back, to people who do."