ShareThisBy ALEX KUFFNER
The Providence Journal
Friday, May 18, 2007
Grayton Waite wants to make one thing clear. There is no other general store in the United States as old as his own, Gray's Store, a business that's been around since 1788.
It's something he's been saying for years. Something his parents argued before that. A sign painted on one side of the clapboard shop in the historic village of Adamsville advertises, "Oldest General Store in U.S." T-shirts for sale inside make the same declaration.
"People claim that there are stores older than this," he says. "They're not."
Don't try arguing with Waite. He has official backing now.
In a brief ceremony on the shop's front porch this week, Waite received two certificates -- one signed by Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri and a second from Sen. Jack Reed -- proclaiming Gray's to be the oldest, continuously run general store in the country.
"This is an extraordinary moment to recognize the history of this store," Reed said to Waite before a small group of reporters. "This is not just about commerce, but community. It was once a center of this community, I'm sure."
Gray's sits on Main Street, not far from a baseball diamond surrounded by a stonewall and a boulder affixed with a bronze plaque commemorating the Rhode Island Red, a native chicken.
The store was opened by Samuel Church, and for a time it doubled as Adamsville's post office.
In 1879, Waite's family took it over and it's been passed down through the generations ever since. The last proprietor with the Gray family name was his grandmother.
Waite's father took over the store after he retired from teaching in 1966. In 1986, he had a stroke behind the counter and died. Waite was working as a graphic designer and living on the Little Compton coast when he returned to Adamsville to run the business.
Questions about the historical significance of the store arose in 1967 when Yankee magazine published an article that said Brown & Hopkins, a general store in Chepachet village, R.I., that was founded in 1809, was the oldest in America.
Waite's mother promptly wrote to the magazine's editors, telling them Gray's was a full 21 years older. She received a letter of apology that Waite still keeps on hand.
That seemed to be the end of the matter until this past winter when a news story that aired on a local TV station repeated Brown & Hopkins's claim.
Waite said he called Liz McIntyre, the owner of Brown & Hopkins, and explained that his store was older. McIntyre described the call as a "tirade."
"He was very upset," she said.
She said she pointed out to Waite that her store has its own proclamation from the state. Dated June 2, 1976, and signed by then-Lt. Gov. J. Joseph Garrahy, it calls Brown & Hopkins "the oldest, continuously run general store in the country." McIntyre, the owner of Brown & Hopkins for three years, keeps the document hanging on a wall in the store.
"All I can say is we have a proclamation as well," she said.
The shop's Web site has a slightly different description of Brown & Hopkins as "America's oldest country store in continuous operation."
Waite admits that the business isn't what it used to be. Townspeople don't come by to buy their groceries like they used to. They go to large supermarkets now. Most customers are out-of-towners who come by in the summer on the way to beaches.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
