What Chilmark General Store is known for
At 7 State Road, the Chilmark General Store stocks everyday provisions, local produce, artisan cheeses, and daily-baked baguettes, with a rocking-chair porch that doubles as the up-island village's gathering spot. Its kitchen turns out hand-stretched thin-crust pizza and sandwiches using produce from island farms and the store's own garden.
The story of a community store in Chilmark begins in 1875, when E. Eliot Mayhew sold almost anything from a building near the present site. Chilmark General Store carries that role into the present at 7 State Road on Martha's Vineyard, close to Beetlebung Corner. Husband and wife Joel Glickman and Jennifer LoRusso took over the lease in 2011 after years of visiting family in the town. Jennifer trained in industrial design at Rhode Island School of Design and led design teams at Target and Pottery Barn. Joel, a Brown University graduate, ran the community garden program for the New York City Parks Department. The shelves hold everyday basics beside specialty and organic foods and beside cheese and charcuterie from Vermont Creamery and Jasper Hill Farm. French baguettes are baked daily, and bread arrives each day from Pain D'Avignon in Hyannis. Produce comes from island farms such as Morning Glory Farm and Grey Barn & Farm, and from the store's own garden 1.5 miles away. The kitchen turns out hand stretched thin crust pizza and sandwiches, served on the porch that works as the up-island gathering place. The owners describe the goal plainly, a community market and pizzeria that keeps a time-honored place the way it is.
Best for — Provisions, porch pizza, and local specialty foods
Chilmark, Martha's Vineyard, MA
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