Return to Area Profiles Table of Contents 

The General Store: Live Bait, Ice Cream, Convenience
Researched and Written by Janine Weins
(Posted 7/11/07)

When Progressive Farmer ranked Grafton County as one of the best counties in the United States in which to live, they illustrated their article about the selection with a photograph of the Lyme Country Store, the caption of which read, " The general store at the crossroads of Lyme is still a great place to find the essentials—milk, a good bologna sandwich, and just about anything else you need. Plus, it's a great place to hang out and see friends." [Read the Article]

If you live in Lyme and you forgot crackers, cheese, milk, hot dogs and buns, cold cuts, food for the cat, or flour for a cake during your last trip to one of the big chain stores, you don't have to make the long trip down the road to the nearby city, take a long walk across a big parking lot, search what may seem like miles of aisles, and wait in line with strangers to purchase your forgotten item. In Lyme, we have the Lyme Country Store. This general store—which is often referred to as Pat & Tony's because it is owned and operated by Pat and Tony Pippin—in addition to stocking just about everything you might have forgotten to get, sells freshly made sandwiches, privately labeled Pat & Tony Wine, the Sunday New York Times, live bait, gasoline for the lawn mower, and ice cream cones.

A store on the site of the Lyme Country Store was constructed in 1785 by Jonathan Conant. In 1980, after the original store burned, the current building, based on the design of the original structure, was built. Because of the fire, The Brick Store, just a few miles north in Bath, New Hampshire, which opened in 1790, is now considered America's oldest general store in continuous operation.

The Lyme Country Store is open seven days a week from 6:00 in the morning until 8:00 in the evening. The store is older and more convenient than K-Mart, Target and Wal*Mart, the big discount retailers whose first years of operation were 1962—and at the Lyme Country Store you can get live bait or an ice cream cone and it is not a long walk in from the parking lot or down the aisles.

The Lyme Country Store lists only a few of the items it offers for sale on the boards that hang over the porch.		The coffee corner is popular with contractors working in the area and those driving through town on their way to work.	Every morning homemade sandwiches, slices of pie, and deviled eggs are wrapped and ready for customers' lunches. Return to Area Profiles Table of Contents