The leading social institution in my part of Cabin Country is the Sandy River Farm Store.

It is located on Route 2, where the Sandy River runs through New Sharon.

It sells farm implements, household gadgets and small items that carpenters and farmers inevitably need.

Beyond its capacity to sell, it brings people together.

Those tacking up notices on its mammoth bulletin board can sell pets, or farm goods, or services ranging from bat control to babysitting.

Your Scribe found both his contractors there: the builder of my cabin and my (would-be) logger who is going to make me a lumber baron if he ever actually gets started.

Under the bulletin board sit local characters, mulling over weather, or taxes or local gossip.

The store has been there for more than 50 years, but has been doing especially well in the past decade.

Local management came in, and began selling coffee, sandwiches, and especially pizza.

Since it is the only store within several miles, it has customers coming in all day for snacks or quick meals.

Its shining moment is in November, when it serves as a tagging station for deer hunters.

Scores of hunters and hangers-on gather throughout the day, as the inert animals are weighed throughout the chilly days.

Last year they tagged 90 bucks and 89 does, according to the informal chalk board on the front porch.

In recent years Maine has welcomed email, mobile phones and now over-the-Net video.

But the country store still stands first in many communities as the No. 1 gathering spot for its denizens.

Notes1: One great thing about the Farm Store is that it gives credit. It takes credit cards, sure, but it also lets people sign for goods with the promise of paying "later."

Notes2: The store has a water tap outside that offers clean drinking water from a deep well. According to a sign above the tap, the well was discovered after an underground explosion in the mid-'50s.

Notes3: Politically, this is "red country." There are numerous patriotic wall signs supporting the war, as well as a declaration that the owner will shoot prospective robbers without asking questions.

Notes4: This Farm Store is like many throughout the state - small gathering spots that provide a center of communication for rural folks who like to visit. In doing so, these stores defy time.

E-mail this entry to a friend