Clark Photographic Series

Dublin Core

Title

Clark Photographic Series

Subject

Clark Store (photo #00002)

Description

George and Leora Clark bought the Butternut Bend Store and the house next door in 1953 from the Kibling family. They would run this neighborhood store at the base of Haystack Mountain in North Pawlet for forty years. "Clarks' sold a bit of everything. George was a shrewd trader, and I don't believe he ever came up short on a deal. As well as an excellent stock of groceries, he also bought and sold guns. He stocked all the most popular ammunitions, also fish poles, lines, hooks and flies. Hunting and fishing licenses were sold, sometimes at midnight the day before deer season. Every inch of the walls in Clarks' store held merchandise that was for sale. The gas pumps drew in many customers. Depending on the time of year there could be a 'town meeting,' a fish and game discussion or a presidential discussion going on. A good seat in the 'house' was the coke cooler or the ice cream freezer." (Joyce Baker)

In 1972, with the support and encouragement of George Clark, Neil Rappaport began making portraits of the denizens of the store. He continued to do this on a fairly regular basis until 1975. "Neil Rappaport spent many years photographing a wide variety of customers who entered the store. The back wall of the store soon became a gallery exhibiting the very life of Pawlet. One had only to study these pictures to know the many and varied lives in this small town… the farmer, the quarryman, the factory worker, housewives, teachers, the sheepherder, the lawyer and the doctor. Looking at the pictures of the children on this wall one could see that they were welcome in the store." (Joyce Baker) Sometime in 1990 the gas tanks had to be removed from the ground and the Clarks found the replacement cost prohibitive. Without the gas pumps and with all the large grocery stores now in the area, business declined quickly but George kept the store open to serve his loyal customers in the North Pawlet area. Joyce Baker who worked for the Clarks for many years remembers him saying, "Everything is for sale, for the right price."

Type

Series

Citation

“Clark Photographic Series,” Pawlet Community Study (1890-1990), accessed September 22, 2024, https://vtfolklifearchive.org/pawlet/items/show/1471.

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