The Old Grocery

Built in the early 1800s, this building originally sat on the corner of Windham Center Road and Route 202 from 1838 to 2020. The 30’ x 50’ building was originally a tailor shop owned by historian and writer William Goold who lived right down the street.

Goold had saved the imported carved wooden oak leaves and acorn trim from the old St. Paul’s Church in Portland and added them to his shop where they still can be seen today.

The tailor shop became a cobbler shop, and then a grain and grocery store, a garden club, and community theater meeting place. Finally, after it had been empty for some time, the building came to the Windham Historical Society. Volunteers started renovations and replaced the sills, repaired the roof and windows, and rebuilt the pillars and overhang. More volunteers polished donated display cases, cleaned and scrubbed, repaired windows, and then turned the structure into the Old Grocery Museum where there were displays of artifacts from the building’s past.

By 2020, it had become clear that the building’s location was no longer a good one for foot traffic. The intersection where it sat had become much busier over the years and it was dangerous to take visitors or school groups across the busy road. So, on October 30, 2020, the Old Grocery made an historic move across the street to the Society’s Village Green Living History Village.

More volunteers went to work fixing and mending, cleaning and renovating to create the current Village Green Old Grocery Museum. The store now looks very much like a mercantile of the late 19th/early 20th centuries. It’s stocked from top to bottom with artifacts from the Society’s extensive collections with new discoveries at every turn. It’s a delight for both children and adults and a true example of having fun with history.

This historical moment was captured on video by the Historical Society’s curator,
Penny Loura.

The Windham Historical Society made a little history of their own on Friday, September 25, 2020 when they moved the Old Grocery at the corner of Route 202 and Windham Center Road across the street to the Society’s Village Green. After a successful fundraising effort led by Society member Dorothy Samuelson, a sum of $41,000 was raised and this helped to make the move possible.

Windham contractor Dave Johnson headed up the project, enlisting Cole Watson of Dana Watson and Son Building Mover to handle the physical move of the building. Also assisting were Jim Elder of M.L. Rogers and Society member Bruce Elder. It was a cold and windy morning, but despite the weather, some Society members braved the elements and were on hand to watch the historic move. It was exciting to see the building being lifted from its foundation and then safely hauled to the Society grounds via a John Deere tractor.

The Old Grocery was placed on its permanent location on the Green on October 30, 2020. It is a welcome addition to the grounds. It is now a living history museum of a country merchantile of the late 19th century. Many artifacts for the store’s displays have been gathered, most donated by Windham residents and Historical Society members. Work on the building began in the spring of 2021.