Harrisville General Store: It's Back!

One of my favourite things to do when visiting [[Yankee]] was to eat lunch a couple of times at the Harrisville General Store. Harrisville is a small village just 5 minutes up the road from here in Dublin; it’s an old mill town, with the red-brick mill buildings forming the spine of the village along the river that drains from Harrisville Pond.

Harrisville is a strange mixture of an effete enclave and “back to the lander” service center, and at is heart has always been the general store:

The store, in recent times, was always a place to go and get an excellent sandwich and a drink and sit out front on the porch enjoying the spring sunshine. When [[Catherine]] and [[Oliver]] and I borrowed a house on Harrisville Pond several years ago the store was the place we bought all those American indulgences like Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream and exotic iced teas and micro-brews.

A few years back, however, the longtime operator of the store moved away, and the new operators, veterans of a Dunkin Donuts it was rumoured, took over and, well, ruined the place. They turned it into something worse than a Kwiki Mart. And all Harrisville was sad. After a while I couldn’t even talk about the store to my Harrisville friend because it was like talking about a child that had wandered away.

I’m happy to report, however, that it looks like the Harrisville General Store is back: I took a leap of faith and drove up for dinner tonight and, to my surprise, some of the old spark was back. There was veggie chili in the crock pot, artisanal iced tea in the cooler, and excellent chocolate chip cookies in the cookie jar. Dinner cost me $6. It was excellent. The spring sun on the porch was warm. Harrisville gleaned.