The Pause That Refreshes - a photo on Flickriver

            Cold beverages in the Vermont Country Store, Weston, VT

From the who would have thunk file:
Although The Vermont Country Store was first opened in 1946 in Weston, Vermont, by Vrest and Mildred Ellen Orton, its origins lie in the Orton family's long Vermont history. In 1897, Gardner Lyman Orton, the eighth generation of Ortons in the United States, opened a general store with his father-in-law Melvin Teachout in Calais, Vermont. Gardner's wife Leila gave birth to their eldest son Vrest that same year. The Teachout-Orton general store was the focal point of Vrest's early years and served as the original inspiration for The Vermont Country Store.

After serving in World War I, in France, Vrest entered the class of 1923 at Harvard. He served briefly in the U.S. Consular Service before moving to New York City in 1925. There he was on the staff of H.L. Mencken’s American Mercury, Alfred Knopf publishers, the Saturday Review of Literature, Life magazine, and in 1929 founded the international book collector’s magazine, The Colophon. During this time, Vrest became known as an authority on typography and book collecting and published many articles about various American writers. Vrest returned to Vermont in 1930 and settled in the village of Weston. He married Mildred Ellen Wilcox in 1936 and founded a book publishing company, The Countryman Press, the same year.

The interior of the store, 1946
During World War II Vrest worked at the Pentagon as a speechwriter and publicist. There he hatched the idea of creating a catalog and store based on the Teachout-Orton store.

In the fall of 1945, Vrest and Mildred officially entered the mail-order business with a catalog, "The Voice of the Mountains". Vrest printed the catalog, consisting of 12 pages and 36 items, on the printing press in his garage, and Mildred mailed it to her family Christmas card list. Riding on the success of that first catalog, Vrest and Mildred purchased a two-story structure in Weston, built in 1827, that had originally been a country inn and opened The Vermont Country Store in the spring of 1946. The Weston store has the distinction of being America's first restored and fully operational country store and has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Taken on: July 28, 2025

Tags:

Vermont

Vermont Country Store

cold beverages

D850

24-70

Weston, VT

interior

coolers

Coke

stuff

old building

charm and character

2025 « less

Sets appears in: • Vermont 2025

Groups appears in: • D850 Nikon Series (also D810, D800, D800E) • Great Captions

Camera: Nikon D850, f/3.5, 1/40 sec, 34mm, ISO 1600 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D850
Lens:	24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture:	f/3.5
Exposure Time:	0.025 sec (1/40)
Focal Length:	34mm
ISO:	1600
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Spot
White Balance:	Auto
Gain Control:	Low gain up
Saturation:	Low
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop 26.9 (Windows)
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