The Country Store

"Come on in and sit a spell" is far more than a quaint old expression our grandparents used. For the rural American community, it was a way of life.
Sometimes known as the General Store or the Mercantile, the country store was the hub of day to day life in town. The Country Store at the Heritage Farm Museum and Village was the first building of the project completed and served as a logical springboard for the rest of the farm.

The owner and operator of the country store was probably one of the community's first entrepreneurs. He was usually also the first postmaster and had one of the first telephones. He had to extend credit sometimes until cash crops came in, and was thus, often the first banker.