MARBLEHEAD – WCVB’s Ted Reinstein will talk about his latest book, New England’s General Stores: Exploring an American Classic. The general store, as old as America itself, harkens back to a simpler time and a more innocent and rural nation. The general store conjures a country-like place where kids come in to buy penny candy, and adults, to buy everything from swaths of fabric, to fresh vegetables, to four-penny nails. It was a place to pick up mail, the newspaper, and perhaps tarry a bit on a cold, winter’s morning to chat over a cup of coffee and a warm wood stove. The program begins Wednesday 12/13, 7 p.m., on the lower level of the Abbot Public Library in Marblehead.
Long before “Cheers,” the general store was the vital and inviting heart of a community, where everyone not only knew your name, but how you took that coffee, how many kids you had, and how’s your dad doing, anyway? And, in tough times, it was a place that often treated customers like family, extending credit when no one else would. The general store was real-life Norman Rockwell — deeply woven into America’s cultural identity, an integral part of the nation’s self-portrait from its earliest days. Fact is, the general store is still very much here, and very much in business. What’s more, like the diner, it has seen a resurgence. In some places, it is even being reimagined for a new era.
Ted Reinstein has been a reporter for “Chronicle,” WCVB-TV/Boston’s award-winning — and America’s longest-running, locally-produced — nightly news magazine since 1997. In addition, he is a regular contributor for the station’s political roundtable show and writes a weekly opinion column. He lives just west of Boston with his wife and two daughters. He is the author of Globe Pequot’s New England Notebook and Wicked Pissed: New England’s Most Famous Feuds.
The Abbot Public Library is located at 235 Pleasant Street, Marblehead, MA 01945. For additional information, please call 781-631-1481 or visit www.abbotlibrary.org.
