From collection Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company Collection
Munsell's Store, West Hartford, VT. 37.
View looking across a dirt street to a 19th century general store. Several men and women stand on the front porch, looking at the camera. A man driving a horse-drawn carriage pauses in front and looks out at the photographer. The scene is a tableau of a classic rural New England general store: what was probably a dwelling updated with large storefront windows and a covered front porch. A small sign below "Munsell's" identifies the place also as the post office, as was common in small towns until the mid-20th century. Off to the parking area side is a stout railing on posts for tying up a horse. The Eastern photographer has likely staged this scene; Munsell and his employees -- women in aprons, men in work clothes and a man who is likely Munsell himself in vest and shirtsleeves-- -have been asked to come out and pose on the porch, and the guy in the carriage has halted his horse toward the left side. Logo signs advertise Coon's Ice Cream and Moxie brand soda.
