In 1869, you went to Calef’s Country Store — the same place you can go today. During its 134 years of existence, not much has changed in this little store at the corner of Routes 9 and 125 in Barrington, New Hampshire. The day’s announcements still greet you on the full-length chalk boards outside. The screen door still signals your entrance as it slams behind you. And the shelves inside are still stocked with foods and condiments and treats that have been enjoyed for generations. In fact, a casual glance around and you might very well think you’ve stepped directly into a Norman Rockwell painting. In many ways, you have.

Calef’s is a portal to our past — an ageless elder that would be happy to share some great stories, and a measure of traditional folk wisdom. One just needs to stop for a moment and listen. Each creak of the floorboards is a voice of someone who has gone before:

the farmer’s wife who came in for a bag of oats … the little boy and girl picking over the penny candy — and paying for it with a penny … the city slicker who rushed in to get directions, but ended up staying for a cup of sweet cider with his new-found friends.

Today, while the world outside screams along at the speed of the Internet, time inside Calef’s essentially stands still. And we hope it always will. We need these venerable artifacts like we need a grandmother — for comfort, reassurance (and a tasty treat). We need the constant reminder that the basic necessities of life are, in fact, quite simple. We need a genuine glimpse of our past so we can see more clearly the road to our future. And if we follow the road to Calef’s, we find a place free of “white noise” and the trill of cell phones — a quiet respite along the way where we can just feel good for a while.

view photographs of Calef's >