History

In 1946, Vrest and Ellen Orton
opened The Vermont Country Store in the quaint village of Weston, Vermont. Vrest was inspired by childhood memories of his father’s general store in North Calais, Vermont. The Weston store became the first restored rural general store in the nation. Vrest Orton said: "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, 13 miles away."

The store was warm and cozy. It smelled of leather harnesses, coffee, smoky kerosene lamps, tobacco and sugar maple logs burning in the potbelly stove.

The Vermont Country Store Today
The Vermont Country Store is owned by Lyman Orton and sons Cabot, Gardner. and Eliot. Together, we are 7th & 8th generation Vermonters, and 4th & 5th generation storekeepers. We still adhere to the old-fashioned values set forth by our father and grandfather Vrest and take pride in being the Purveyors of the Practical and Hard-to-Find. From our two stores, catalog, and website, we're stocked to the rafters with quality merchandise from around the block and around the world. Speaking for the family, Eliot Orton: "We still go to great lengths to find products that aren't sold anywhere else."