Located in Southern Vermont on the New York border is a little town called Poultney, not to be confused with Putney, which lies a little over One and a Half hours South West. With a population of just around Three-Thousand Four Hundred people, Poultney is a small town, but it also has a college. Can you have a small college town?
Now I’ve done a fair bit of traveling in my life. I’ve managed to visit all fifty states, just two of them by plane – the rest were on motorcycle or VW bus. Yeah, I’ve seen a lot of towns. From big cities to suburbs, college and even ghost towns, I’ve even rolled through towns who shut down for the winter or summer due to heat or cold (yeah, I managed to roll through those when they were closed).
Prior to 1851, Poultney was home to farms, grist and lumber mills -then began the slate industry. While we no longer have a gristmill or lumber mill, Farming, Logging and Quarrying continue to be in operation today in Poultney. In 1852, the Railroad arrived in Poultney and caused a dramatic change. Prior to its arrival, Poultney was made up of two distinct areas. The original heart of the town is today referred to as East Poultney and one can still see the Town Square (more of a triangle), the old factories, churches and hotel. But after the railroad arrived, commerce shifted west to be closer to the station and today, long after the railroad left town, the heart of Poultney remains in this location.
It was 1977 when my family first came to Poultney on a wintery night. We arrived at my Dad’s business partner’s house on Lake St. Catherine, which lies on the outskirts of Poultney’s Downtown also know as Main Street. We were greeted with frozen pipes and no heat. It wasn’t pleasant, but it was memorable. The view the next day was amazing. We immediately fell in love with Poultney and its beautiful lake. By the summer of 1978, we owned a vacation house here too.
I was just a Fourteen-year-old boy, but I too, quickly fell in love with Poultney. Not just the lake, but the town, the community. A young boy having grown up in the Suburbs of New York City, I’d not seen anything like this place. That was thirty-nine years ago.
Fast forward to 2012 when I decided to move to the lake for a few months. A few months grew to a few years. I remember my first week as a new Poultney resident. I was in need of some hardware and groceries so I headed into town and picked up my shopping before heading to the hardware store. I arrived there a few minutes after five pm. The store was closed for the night. I noticed most stores were now closed at this hour. I sat there in my car for a minute and let what I was witnessing sink in.
I had just moved here from a town where we had three locally owned hardware stores all go out of business because of Home Depot. My family’s own Office Supply business when out of business because of Staples. Local Drug Stores closed up. I grew up watching the death of small business all around me. It was sheer carnage. Eventually, large corporations whose bottom line was closely watched by Wall Street investors replaced all Mom and Pop businesses. Investors demanded more for less from their employees, employees who were now required to work seven days a week.
Soon these big businesses started staying open twenty-four hours a day. As a consumer, it was great, but as a human I began to see the toll on people. These places were open all night, weekends and holidays. What was convenient for the consumer was detrimental for the employees who were now a prisoner to these corporations. Not only did I watch the death of Mom and Pop shops, I watched the death of family life.
Now here I am, sitting on Main Street. Main Street begins where State Route 30 cuts through town and it heads west to an abrupt end just 1,800 feet away at the entrance to Green Mountain College. One can stand at the beginning on Main Street and wave at a friend on the other end and each could see the other without even straining.
In just 1,800 feet you will find a robust economy. Flanked on either side of Main Street are numerous family businesses. There is Tot’s Diner where locals gather each morning to have breakfast before starting their day. You haven’t lived until you’ve gotten to experience this joyous event and witness the closest thing to a communal breakfast.
Just down from there is Williams Hardware. Half Hardware Store, half Lumber Yard, they have been keeping our farms, homes and businesses in working order. It’s still owned by Bob, the same man I met in here some Thirty-Nine years ago. Walking in there, Bob will tell you that he knew me when I was just this high – as he holds his hand up over his head, I was tall even as a child. Across the street is Poultney Fair Haven Auto. They too have been here for as long as I remember, not only providing the four Auto Shops in town with auto parts, but they also help keep the farmers farming and the slate industry quarrying as well as providing parts and accessories for the rest of us.
If you continue walking west you pass Hermit Hill Books. What is it about a small town where a Bookstore can survive against the weight of Amazon, yet they do? You’ll then pass Mart’s Sporting Goods, which serves the hunting and fishing industry. There’s Vermont Forest and Field, our locally owned and Independent Real Estate office.
What town is complete without a Post Office and there about halfway down the street, there she stands with one of the best addresses a post office can have; 123 Main Street. Two more restaurants; Taps Tavern and The Trolley stop also inhabit this area and of course – The Original Vermont Country Store.
Across the road and towering over Main Street is the old Journal Press building. Now home to a Culinary School, numerous artists and stone sculpture, Kerry O. Furlani – on the top floor of this three story building with no elevator – a Candle Shop and even a Private Eye – The Acme Detective Agency.
Back down at street level you’ll find Drake’s Pharmacy, one of the last remaining Compounding Pharmacies in the region and one that holds a special place in my heart. A Compounding pharmacy doesn’t just dispense medicines; they custom blend them, flavor them and make your medicine easier to take. It was Drake’s Pharmacy that compounded Lexie’s chemo drugs for me when she was battling cancer. Flavoring some with chicken, putting others into tablets so they were easier to swallow. I’m not sure what I would have done without Pam, the Pharmacist, owner and community member.
Just past the Paint, Wallpaper and Flooring shop is another unique business; Friends in Adoption, which facilitates adoptions far, and wide, not just in town. Next to them resides the Stone Valley Community Market, our very own Organic, Locally Grown, Food Co-Op. Then we pass the Attorneys and Doctors office. Back across the street we’ve passed Kinney Pike Insurance, Priscilla’s Sweet Shop, the Public Library a Stewarts. Then we happen upon the Laundromat, Pizza Shop and finally – Perry’s Eatery, which many of the college students love, as do I. In fact, Perry’s is the last place Lexie and I ate breakfast together before she passed away from cancer.
Where Main Street ends, Green Mountain College begins. Much like Poultney itself, Green Mountain College is rather unique and different. This is a college like none other I’ve seen before. Bicycle or foot is the preferred method of transportation. Students are learning Sustainable Farming, Sustainable Construction Methods, Art and Language. These aren’t your typical college students; this isn’t your typical college. The students coming out of this school I see leading the charge to protect our earth. Ensuring that we will still be able to farm these very lands One Hundred years from now. Still be able to fish our oceans, lakes and rivers. Still be able to harvest lumber from the forests. These are students, not with an eye on the dollar, but an eye on life.
This is Main Street Poultney. This is what is happening in just 1,800 feet. Among these shops are also numerous apartments, homes and Bed and Breakfast establishments. There are many more businesses down the cross streets as well.
I’m not upset that William’s Hardware is now closed for the day, I am elated! Elated for this town that didn’t let Mom and Pop die. Elated to see a town that did not destroy family. This town, despite all odds, retained the very essence of Small Town America.
That should be where this story ends, but it’s not. You see, when you have something special, others will try to steal it from you and right now someone is trying to steal the Heart of Poultney.
I recently learned that Poultney is being eyed by of those Dollar Stores. I see these Dollar stores popping up in many small towns. Usually ones struggling to survive and thankful for any business that comes their way, but you have to be careful who comes calling when you are struggling for it might just be a vulture waiting for its next meal. These dollar stores specifically looks for small towns they can feed off of. I call these businesses Bottom Feeders. They feed off of the remnants of a once thriving Main Street. Under the guise of Property Tax and Sales Tax revenue, they actually bring nothing of value to the town.
Unlike the Mom and Pop shop owners who work, live in and support the community in many ways, the monies from these corporate stores are funneled out of town and into the pockets of Wall Street -never to be seen again in our community. The sales tax they generate is at a cost to the other businesses in town. They are not bringing anything unique to the table. Every dollar spent there is a dollar out of Bob’s hardware store or Mart’s sporting goods store. It’s a dollar from Al’s auto parts and so on.
Yes, there is the property tax, but do not look solely at property tax as your deciding factor because there are businesses that will come to Poultney and not hurt us. Perhaps it’s a factory producing Solar Panels or a Fish Farm, an indoor greenhouse or ecology lab. There are thousands of businesses that can become an asset to Poultney, don’t let a Vulture trick you into thinking he’s an Eagle.
In short order, you can easily find numerous reports of what happens to a town when one of these Dollar stores arrives so I’ll spare you the details other than to say, it’s never positive. In fact, I often pass through a town that had two Dollar stores open within a quarter mile of each other. Both stores lack any personality. Concrete Block and large plate glass windows are all you see and empty parking lots. Within a year, one of these newly built stores was already closed up leaving the town with an ugly empty building to look at.
I know that Poultney fits their demographics in many ways and demographics are how Wall Street determines where they can mine for money. While we may fit their demographics, they do not fit ours. Hard working mostly blue collar families making just enough to survive. The farmers, loggers, contractors and quarry workers, the artists and writers have made up the fabric of Poultney for generations. This is Small Town America. This is Poultney. The one thing Poultney has that they didn’t count on – a thriving Main Street!
We cannot allow Wall Street to swoop in and turn this beloved little town into a wasteland. Poultney is run by, supported by and survives by Small Local Business. As a community, we must stand by these families who have dedicated their lives to supporting this town and keep Poultney Small. Sure, you might have to drive to Granville, Fair Haven or Rutland for some items, but it is a small price to pay for the opportunity to live in such a beautiful little town.
Please don’t throw this town away. Keep Poultney Local! Keep Poultney Small!
Photo courtesy of Alan Nyiri Photography
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