Our History And Heritage

The Westmoreland Village Store & Eatery, as it is currently know, has had a long and colorful history and is now our heritage; Antonio and Jacqueline M. Romero. The photo on the right contains me, Antonio "Tony" pictured on the left, and my wife, friend, and partner Jacqueline "Jackie" on the right. Though our history provided below is quite long, it is interesting and well worth the reading if you have a few extra minutes.

Each year many travelers, tourists, and vacationers stop by to enjoy a delicious meal, purchase supplies, and spend some time enjoying local points of interest. We warmly invite you to come visit us at your home away from home, the Westmoreland Village Store & Eatery.

The Story of our History Begins

August 20, 2002 - Antonio and Jacqueline M. Romero purchase the property, a conventional style store/house and small storage building from Dana and Helena Coburn, which they sold to Romero from Deerfield Beach, Fl.

July 31, 2000 - Ricky and Diane Delisle sold the property to the Coburns from Southampton, Ma.

September 3, 1998 - The Connecticut River Bank sold the property to the Delisles.

January 2, 1998 - Peter R. and Lorraine P. Robedoux foreclosed the property to the Bank.

October 30, 1990 - The store stood empty through part of 1997 until the Delisles bought it. The Delisles cleaned up the store, changed the location of the front counter and redid the floors. Kenneth and Lois Woolley sold the property to the Robedouxs.

June 25, 1969 - Philip M. and Glenna M. Patch sold the property to the Woolleys from Neptune, NJ.

May 15, 1968 - Orella Lesure, widow, sold the property to the Patchs.

May 31, 1955 - Glenn E. and Anna B. Britton sold the property to the Nelsons and Orela Lesure. Mr. Nelson was a member of the Westmoreland Fire Department. He experienced a heart attack and died while responding to a fire in the house on February 24, 1968.

November 29, 1930 - George B. Veazie, divorced, sold the old town hall lot (which burnt in 1915) and stood south of the store, to Glenn Britton.

September 20, 1930 - Christopher F. and Emma L. Finnegan sold the property to the Brittons. Glenn and Anna Britton were both life long residences of Westmoreland and moved their family into the store.

March 5, 1928 - Walter E. Bowers sold the store to Emma L. Finnegan. Sarah E. Bowers had sold to Walter Bowers "all claims to her right as wife to the property owned and occupied by Walter as a store property" on November 7, 1927.

November 3, 1925 - John E. and Cora Sheldon sold to the Bowers from Natick, Ma.

November 20, 1920 - George B. and Gertrude Veazie sold the property to the Sheldons. Horatio Black, who lived in the South Village, wrote in his diary on November 5, 1920, "Sheldon bought old store he moved to bels house".

June 7, 1919 - George B. Veazie bought the property from the Town of Westmoreland. Tileston Barker had sold the property to the Town of Westmoreland for the use of the town hall on November 11, 1853.

September 4, 1918 - Henry D. and Anna Pierce sold the property to George B. Veazie.

July 10, 1917 - Edgar J. Hoiden, unmarried, sold the property back to the Pierces. On July 11, 1917 Horatio Black wrote, "new man moving store goods to Hoiden store Henry bought store $1200 dollars". When the town hall, which stood south of and next to the store, burnt to the ground on November 25, 1915, the store was in damage of burning also. Many of the items inside the store were removed.

December 28, 1907 - Henry D. and Anna Pierce sold the property to Edgar J. Hoiden. On October 30, 1907 Horatio Black writes "Henry store burnt to night 10 clock. Every thing burnt maid out to save town hall. I staid over all night". The barn connecting the store also burnt. Clifford McClenning had rented the store and house for the last two or three years from Pierce. The Keene Sentinel reported, "the fire was supposed to have caught from the furnace in the cellar. They awoke to the smell of smoke and driven back from the smoke when opening the door to the downstairs. He hurried back and seized his little baby and calling to his wife rushed down stairs, falling on the way and having difficulty in getting out. The store was then filled with flames and the fire was in the house and store before help arrived but by then scarcely any portion of the buildings could be entered. There was no fire apparatus in the village and the premises were entirely consumed with their contents. There was probably a considerable quantity of mail matter burned and some government property such as envelopes and the like. There was a good safe in the office in which stamps, money orders and the like were kept. The office did quite a business, receiving and distributing the mail for a considerable area. A good deal of mail was usually called for in the evening by near-by residents which would reduce the amount in the office at night." Henry Pierce had $2000 on the property and McClenning $2500 on his stock and fixtures. Insurance covered most of the loss. Two months later Pierce sold the property to Holden who built the current store on the property. Horatio Black did not. keep a diary in 1908 and 1909 but on January 19, 1910, he "went over Villag(e) got taback (tobacco) Holden". McClenning moved to Bellows Falls, Vt, for a while after the fire. The current store was built sometime in 1909.

The property before the current store was built.

December 20, 1895 - Mary and Henry Crowningshield sold the property to Henry D. Pierce. Black, who was living on the Hurricane Road in WId. at the time, wrote in his diary on December 20, 1895, "H D P bought hotel propy (property) $400". On the 23rd he wrote "i went to South Vilag(e) sea Henry Warm plesent We cover(e)d brick wall hotel up". George M. Blake rebuilt a three-story structure for his father-in-law Henry Pierce for $3000 in 1896. Blake turned the downstairs into a store and ran it for a number of years until moving to Keene and working for Spencer Hardware Co. Later Charles Hart took the store over until around 1904 when Clifford McClenning ran the store, post-office and telephone office until the fire destroyed the building in 1907.

October 1, 1886 - James A. Pullen sold to Mary Crowningshield "land and buildings known as the Hotel Property". Crowningshield operated the hotel as the Pynchon House until November 30, 1895, when fire destroyed the buildings. Twenty-one days later they sold the property to Henry D. Pierce. Pierce rebuilt in 1896 for a much-needed store in the South Village instead of a hotel.

August 21, 1885 - Alonzo and Ellen Burt sold the property to James A. Pullen from Chesterfield, NH. The March 8, 1885 Cheshire County Gazetteer lists the Burts as the proprietor of the Westmoreland Hotel.

August 11, 1884 - Stephen O. and Abbie A. Hawkins sold the propertie to the Burts "occupied and used for a hotel".

December 20, 1883 - Sanford and Lydia Guernsey (or Gurnsey) sold to N.G. Guernsey & Sons.

February 8, 1882 - Emma L. Bennett sold to her mother Betsey W. Bennett "known as the Hotel premises."

February 8, 1882 - Holland Bennett sold to his daughter Emma Bennett.

February 11, 1867 - Leonard W. and Adaline H. Slade sold the property to Holland Bennett from Walpole, NH. Bennett ran the hotel on the property called the "Valley House". Otis Hutchins, a resident of Westmoreland wrote in his diary on June 1879 "Anson Cole's store and H.M. Bennett's hotel burned down. Fire caught in Cole's barn in some unknown way." Cole's sotre (now the site of the town hall) was attached to Bennett's hotel by stables. Photos of the two properties can be seen in the Westmoreland history on page 41. An examination of the two photos (upper right-hand comer and lower left-hand corner) shows how they were connected to one another. The Keene Sentinel reported "the lose for Holland Bennett of the Valley House is large. The loss of these buildings to the town and especially to the village, of which they formed a prominent part, will be great if not rebuilt". By the fall of 1879 Bennett rebuilt the hotel and barns.

September 3, 1864 - James A. Howe sold to the Slades from Keene, NH.

April 2, 1860 - Frederick Howe sold the property to his brother James Howe.

February 22, 1859 - Samuel II and Caroline A. Howe sold to their son Frederick.

March 29, 1856 - Ezekiel P. and Susanna Pierce from Chesterfield, NH, sold the property to Samuel Howe II "being the Abel Starkey Tavern." The 1858 map of Westmoreland shows "S. Howe's Hotel" on the property.

Our earliest known record.

Stephen Barker sold the property to Abel Starkey in 1841. Barker built the house in 1839 which was later changed into a hotel by Starkey, and the same year Starkey built a large store on the corner, which both burned in 1879. Starkey went bankrupt forcing a sale of most of his store property at public auction on September 8, 1843. Some of the items auctioned were horses, buffalo robes, 47 dozen combs, 200 lanterns, 300 Huntington's geography and atlas. 700 broom handles and axes, to name a few.