Escapees March-April 2019 Vol 40 Issue 5

SKP Stops

                                              W e’ve been to many country stores in Vermont. However, Hastings Store captured our attention more than most due to its his- tory and the stories written on the walls and told by the owners. One sign explains that Joe’s Pond is named after Indian Joe (1745–1819), a Coosuck Indian who was nursed back to health by a family of settlers after being wounded in a raid on their settlement. Joe’s Pond is the largest body of water in Vermont to be called a pond and was given that name by the Vermont State Legislature. The Hastings Store has been in the same family for 103 years. Jane, one of the owners, is an eighth-gen- eration Vermont native and a justice of the peace. She told us about a couple who came in dressed in hunting clothes and wanted to be married right then and there. They had a marriage license, so she married them under the mounted deer head that her father had shot. Before you enter the store, you can look through the shelves of books on the porch. There is a post office in one corner of the store. Until recently, someone from Jane’s family had always been the postmaster. Do you need a granite headstone? Order one in the store.   West Danville, Vermont          

Want to buy a ticket to Joe’s Pond Ice Out contest? Purchase it in the store. For one dollar per ticket, you can choose the exact date and time you think a cinder block, fastened to a clock, will fall through the ice in Joe’s Pond. When the block falls through, it disconnects and stops the clock. That determines the exact time the ice has officially melted. Whoever guesses closest to the time and date receives between $4,000 and $5,000. There are over 12,000 entries each year and you, too, can enter. You don’t have to be in Vermont. Visit www. joespondvermont.com/iceout.php to enter online. Entries must be received by April 1, 2019. The town’s people enjoy meeting in the store to “fix the problems of the world” over a meal. If that appeals to you, I’ll bet one of the 100 dozen donuts Garey makes each week will tempt you. Other than Hastings Store, tiny West Dansville also has a restaurant, gift shop, covered pedestrian bridge and a park along Joe’s Pond, where you can launch a canoe or kayak. The hard-packed gravel rail trail spans 17 miles from Saint Johnsbury to West Danville. After a beautiful bike ride, mostly through woods, moss, ferns, wildflowers and rocky ledges, an ice cream cone from the Hastings Store was a tasty and refreshing treat. Parking is available for any size RV at a “park and ride” across the street from the store (N44.40883 W72.19526) or down the road at the park/boat launch, off route 15, slightly north of route 2.       

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