Thirty-seven years ago this week, my husband Doug and I
signed on the dotted line and became the owners of the Wayside Country Store in
West Arlington, Vermont.
Although I have been working on it -- and talking about it
-- for two years, my little book chronicling the history of the store is
finally done … just in time to celebrate this anniversary! While it is a slim
volume, it manages to cover a good deal of ground and will hopefully shed some
light on the families that have kept the doors open over the last century plus.
Who built the store? And why? And when?
This little book is the result of many, many hours spent searching
for verifiable information to confirm -or in some cases dispel - my long-held
beliefs about the origins of the business. It turns out that, while there is a
lot of information out in the world about Arlington proper, West Arlington seems
to have been sparsely documented (except for Norman Rockwell’s presence) so my
hope is that this book will add to the rich history of our beautiful valley.
The project has been great fun and I am indebted to the many
folks who helped bring it to fruition. Chief among them has been graphic artist
Dave Van de Water who enhanced the photos and documents that accompany my text
and is responsible for the way it is laid on the page. Without his expertise,
my book would have been little more than poor-quality photocopies stuck
together with a paperclip. Another one of the heavy lifters has been Christine
Meyer who kept me from making a fool of myself with poor spelling, punctuation
and assorted grammatical missteps. And Debbi Wraga at the Northshire Bookstore
deserves a shoutout for her efforts to have the finished, printed book ready
for this week’s Wayside milestone. There are many, many more to thank and I thank
them all – profoundly.
The Wayside Story - A Look Back at the History of a Vermont Country Store is available – where else –
at the Wayside Country Store. For those far afield, it can also be ordered online directly from the Northshire by clicking here.
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