The Daily Times and Chronicle, Tuesday, March 18, 1980

Burlington Past and Present, by John E. Fogelberg
(Article # 039)

By far the most important element in the New England
village of the early 19th century was the church. But there
were three other buildings near the center of each community,
each of which served a definite need: the tavern, where the
local farmers could get a hot toddy and the latest news from
outside of town as well as the latest gossip from in town; the
village blacksmith, who could make nails and horseshoes and
iron ware and was often a wheelwright as well; and the village
store, where the farmer traded his surplus grain, eggs and
other farm produce for what he could not produce himself such
as sugar, molasses, spices, gunpowder and woven cloth from
abroad.
Burlington in 1800 had all four of these clustered about
what is now called the center. The church still standing in the
angle made by Bedford and Lexington Streets was then an old
landmark having been erected in 1732. The Wood Tavern stood
then where the Fire Station is today, a solid square two-story
building having in its upper floor a social hall, a house built
shortly after the Revolution by Capt. John Wood. Solomon
Trull's blacksmith shop occupied the corner of Bedford and
Center Streets and faced its owner's saltbox standing across
the street next to where the Union School stands now. And the
village store, for fifty years or more known as Cutler's, stood
just east of the tavern and on a spot now occupied by the
Police Station.
Burlington's village store was composed of three units,
the house where the storekeeper lived, the long wide store
itself and the huge attached barn. Who the original builder was
and when he build is not known precisely. Mrs. Dunham seems to
think that it was built by a Gleason, first run by a George
Gleason and only became Cutler's when Silas Cutler married
Susan Gleason in 1832. Thus it could have been the Thomas
Gleason mentioned in the assessment of 1798 which indicates a
substantial dwelling but no mention is made of a store. And by
1821 there are no Gleasons assessed at all in Burlington, but
in that year there are six Cutlers, all paying a sizeable tax.
Or the store complex could just as well have been built by one
of the Wood family since much of the land there in 1800 was
Wood preperty.
In any case Silas Cutler ran that village store until at
least 1879. During his ownership it became not only a store
carrying an amazing variety of grocery items but a variety
store and apothecary as well. The year he married, Silas was
appointed postmaster by President Jackson and space was made
for the postoffice there too. Energetic and enterprising by
nature, Silas accepted appointment as librarian in 1856 when
the town established its first public library, and he managed
to find space in his store for the library's first 350 volumes.
For this service he was paid $30. a year. Speaking of books,
there is an item in the town records for 1879 which reads,
"Silas Cutler for school books for indigent children, $8.00."
Silas dies in 1896, aged 90.
The interior of Cutler's store was an amazing and inter-
esting place. An open counter ran the whole length of the rear
wall. Counters holding display cases backed up to the front
wall and far side where Cutler also had his big wooden desk,
his office. A cast iron stove with a rail around its bulbous
center stood in the middle of the store, throwing off a del-
ightful warmth in winter and accentuating the smell of tea,
spices and tobacco.
Coffee beans were ground while you waited, salt pork sold
by the chunk, pickles in brine, molasses drawn from a barrel,
firkins of butter and lard, bulk tapioca in a glass jar, apples
in baskets and noggins of apple butter. Assorted buttons in
trays and candy such as peppermint sticks and hoarhound were in
the covered counters alongside spools of thread and cheeses.
On the shelves stool lamp chimneys, mouse traps, putty,
gloves, shuttlecocks, spoons, jars of fruits and vegetables,
turpentine, even nails, screws and scissors. In front of the
counter were pails of various sizes, sponges in wicker baskets,
cans and cannisters of salt and sage and Oolong tea. To one of
the two posts in the center of the store hung a chart of glass
sizes with prices, on the other a two-man saw. And there were
crackers in the big cracker barrel.
To the rear was the storeroom and grainroom. Bins along
one side contained flour, sugar, oats and beans; across the
aisle were stored cans of paint, bags of grain and heavy hard-
ware. On the walls were hung sifters, rolls of wire, straw
hats, hand scythes; here and there were fishing poles, snow
scoops, hay rakes, rat traps, butter crocks and frying pans.
Certainly an interesting variety.
As for pharmaceuticals Cutler probably handled such items
as cassia bark, aloes, ipecac, extract of mustard, sarsaparil-
la, a variety of pills including no doubt Carter's Little Liver
Pills.
Cutler's account book has not survived but from one kept
by an S. Simonds who appears to have been a shoemaker but must
have taken or sold goods in trade come the following entries
which give an indication of prices no doubt prevalent in Cut-
ler's store as well: "1835 - 2 pds of sugar 18 cents; 1/2 pd
tobacco 10 cents; 14 pds fish 55 cents; 1 peck of meal 25
cents; 1 bushel potatoes 50 cents; 1 pd butter 23 cents; 7 pds
soap 56 cents; 1 pd coffee 14 cents; 1 lobster 19 cents. As for
clothing: 1846 - 1 frock coat $1.00; 1 pair boots $2.00; 1
straw hat 25 cents; 7 yds of cloth for shirts 50 cents; 1 pair
pants $1.00; 1 cap 50 cents; thread and buttons 10 cents."
Mathew Stevenson, Jr. owned and operated the village store
in 1900 when its assessed valuation and the three acres it
stood on was $2,275. The buildings were moved several hundred
yards to the east in 1915 to make way for the new Town Hall
built that year. Other names have been associated with, Burl-
ington's village store from time - to time such as George
Getchell, George Tebbetts, Orrin Sanderson, William Fuller and
Charles Dodge. Mrs. Dodge and her daughter tried to carry on
the store for awhile in a limited way but closed the doors
about 1940. The barn and store were pulled down and the house
acted as an addition to the Town Hall until it too was taken
down to make room for the present Town Hall built in 1968.
Today one must go to Sturbridge Village or Shelburne to
find a village store similar to what Burlington's Cutler's
Store was 100 years ago.