The following article was written by Jennifer Jacques and was originally published in the WLFS Feed for Thought Newsletter - Holiday/Winter Edition 2009. In an effort to help promote the importance of buying local, each edition of our quarterly newsletter features a local business that we feel shares our vision for excellence in customer service and integrity.
"Our admiration of the antique is not admiration of the old, but of the natural." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ahh, I must be getting sentimental as I become older. This month, I had the pleasure to be able to chat with the co-owner of yet another childhood haunt. I rode the train there as a kid and I ate maple candy from the general store. I followed my Gram around the craft displays and I remember as I ventured into the antiques mall, I wondered why in the world anyone would want butter so bad as to sweat and earn big biceps over it! Yes, those were fond times. For this admired local business this issue, I was able to talk with the owners of Quechee Gorge Village: Robin and Gary Neil.
Quechee Gorge Village (QGV) was originally established in 1985 as a Woodsman Museum, Country Store and Antique Mall that some of you may remember as “Timber Village.” Peenie Goodwin was the original visionary behind this business and Robin tells me that he moved several of the barns that now form the community feel of the current establishment, from New Hampshire! Gary and Robin are the third owners and have owned Quechee Gorge Village since 1988.
Robin and Gary are extremely involved in their local community. QGV hosts an annual ‘ride the train with Santa,’ where train passengers make a donation to a specified charity. This takes place the day after Thanksgiving (whoo, whoo!) Each child that visits to ride the train receives a Christmas gift bag, made possible by local businesses who donate items to fill each goodie bag. QGV is also very closely involved with C.H.A.D at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, is an avid supporter of the Quechee Hot Air Balloon Festival, the primary sponsor for the Covered Bridges Half Marathon, and the list goes on for nearly two pages!
If you hail from the Upper Valley, you might be thinking of this particular stretch of Route 4 as a place where tourists stop. When I asked Robin about the composition of their customers, here’s what she had to say:
“Quechee Gorge Village is not just for tourists! We have worked very hard over the past 20 plus years to offer something for everyone. Locals are just amazed when they visit us for the first time and realize what wonderful shops we have to find that perfect gift. We find that people who rode the train as a child, have brought their children and grandchildren to experience this fun place. Several artists reside here and have formed The Artisans of Quechee Gorge Village guild where you can see many products being made or take a class from the artisan.”
This may be best evidenced by the twenty-five percent increase reported in locals patronizing QGV.
QGV really offers something for everyone and with 400 individual antique or collectible dealers renting space from Robin and Gary, if you’re an avid collector, a dabbler, or just curious, you’re sure to find something of interest (I certainly have myself there, as did many of the antiques in WLFS originate from those shops-but I still buy my butter at the grocery store!)
Something else you may not have known about QGV: the train is a replica from the original Woodstock Railroad; before Route 4 was put in. They also have an authentic 1930’s Allan Herschell Carousel, and the diner that is there? It’s only the original 1947 Worcester Diner from Holyoke, Massachusetts that was moved to the property and totally renovated. Robin talked fondly about how over the years, Gary has amassed quite a collection of vintage toys and purchased the train layouts from another museum in Mendon, Vermont. He has lovingly built and grown a toy and train museum which is now housed in the main complex below Cabot. There are thousands of toys from metal to wind-ups, TV toys, lunch boxes, two operating train layouts, Vermont animated display (which was built by Advanced Animations of Stockbridge, VT and which Gary purchased from the Big E), educational videos, a time tunnel, hands-on stations, a vintage cap gun collection, cracker jack toys, and more. The museum was filmed for the PBS Tracks Ahead program which will be airing in 2010!
So, this month, I encourage you to take a “stay-cation.” Go and visit a local business that is really an Upper Valley experience, which some drive hours to see. From the working train, Carousel, unique shops, antiques and diner, Quechee Gorge Village truly is a reminder of where we’ve been and where we are going. The infusion of New England mainstays and traditions with modern times keeps reminding us of who we are and the values we share in our community.
For more information, visit: www.quecheegorge.com.
