Monday, January 26, 2009

Valentine Giveaway!!!!!!!

My friend Cheryl and I are joining forces for a special Valentine Giveaway!
Visit her blog at
for details to enter the contest!
Brown & Hopkins is giving away
the following items to one lucky winner!
A Brown & Hopkins coffee mug, 2 packets of pink hot cocoa,
a Valentine Chocolate Rice Krispie Treat
and two cinnamon wax cookie tarts!
Deadline to enter is February 5th!!!
With Valentines Day just around the corner,

I'd thought I would show you one of the cutest (and calorie free!) items that just came in!

Hot Cinnamon WAX Cookie Tarts!

Think "red hots"...remember those little candies that are so hot, you can only eat one at a time?

These wax melters smell just like those!

Almost too cute to melt in your tart warmer, these little cookies are embedded with a perfect heart! These would make a heart warming gift for a good friend!

They are available to purchase online on our store website!

Friday, January 23, 2009

Think Pink!


Have some fun this Valentines Day with some colorful cocoa!

Our creamy white cocoa has been tinted pink for a heart warming experience!

Available in an individual serving size and sizes big enough to share!

Just mix with either hot water or hot milk!

Sunday, January 18, 2009

It's Cozy Inside!

Today we were closed due to the parking ban imposed by the town...

due to the snow storm....

We were sad as we were expecting a very busy day!

And we still had 50 more free gifts to give away!!!!


So, on Monday, January 19th,

we will be open and we will continue our event!

Pop on over for your free gift and a peek at some spring stuff!

It may be cold outside, but it's cozy inside!
I found the photo above on my camera......
It must have been snapped by our Angela.....
She surprised me!
Angela is studying photography in college........
We'll be very sad when she goes off and finds a job in her field.....
but in the meantime,
we're pleased as punch to have her playing store with us!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Lots to Report!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is so much to report.....we have been
BUSYYYY!!!!!
To say the least!!!
Here is my neice Clare.....she has grown so much!
We saw her over Christmas!Here's a picture of Bruce and I with some very good friends (although the one in the hat is a bit odd...LOL)....just a few hours after Bruce popped THE question..
Yup, we are gonna tie the knot!!!!
He makes me laugh everyday and I LOVE that!

Me and Barbara just came back from a trade show in Atlanta!
We stayed at a hotel called The Georgian Terrace which was host to the 1920's premier party for the actors in Gone with the Wind!!!!

It was right across the street from the famous Fox Theatre!!

Our feet are still hurting...

We shopped 3 buildings, 20 floors each, with like 40 showrooms on each floor....well,

maybe even more!!!!
We shopped til we dropped!

Of course I had to take a pic of the Hard Rock Cafe........I love that place!These are my friends Dana and Mary....they own country stores in other parts of the country!!!!

This is a sneak preview of the fabulous stuff we have in store for you when we re-open tomorrow!!!! OMG, the girls were so busy while we were in Atlanta! The store looks amazing!




Don't you just love these pillows I had made for our Bicentennial?????




Taylor froze her little hiney off in 17 degree weather, but those winodws needed washing!!!!
RJ Heim from Channel 10 is coming tomorrow at 11:30AM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hope you can make it!!!!!!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

A Most Interesting Story!!!!!!

It is amazing what can be found with google!!!
Reprinted from The Providence Journal
2.28.99
Thriving Villages
Now little more than bedroom communities, the villages in the far reaches of the state thrived with their own industry, entertainment and identity.
By BRIAN D. MOCKENHAUPTJournal Staff Writer
Tell someone in Providence that you're taking a trip to Burrillville or Foster, and you might hear some variation of the quip: "You better pack an overnight bag."
But one hundred years ago, that wasn't far from the truth. Most of the roads in the northwest corner of the state were dirt, cars were scarce , and travel was often by horse or foot. Now little more than bedroom communities, the villages in the far reaches of the state thrived with their own industry, entertainment and identity. There were the larger villages -- Pascoag, North Scituate, Harrisville -- and the smaller villages now all but forgotten -- Huntsville, Moosup Valley, Cherry Valley. "People who live in Cherry Valley are still quite proud of the fact that they live in Cherry Valley," says Edna Kent, Glocester's historian.
In Glocester, the center of town was Chepachet. At the start of the 19th century, it was known as a trading hub. Gradually it became a mill village, but the mills in Chepachet declined through the later part of the 19th century, Kent says. The last big mill, White's Mill, burned in 1897. It was burned, Kent says, for the insurance. "The gentleman who was the night manager, the superintendent, he had never taken a vacation and he was approached by this brother of the man who lived across the street from the mill and he said, `You work so hard, why don't you take the day off and I'll watch it for you.' And that night it burned. "As the story goes, that man never came to town again," Kent says. "He just couldn't set foot in town. It just broke his heart. He loved that mill." Kent says the burning of the mill, which employed many people at the time, "cast a pall over the community."
"At the turn of the century," she says, "it would have been rather quiet." But Kent says it wasn't just the loss of the mills that hastened Chepachet decline. In the mid-1800s, there was talk of bringing the railroad to Chepachet, linking it to Providence. The farmers, however, "were afraid the engines would cause the hay fields to burn. "They refused it," Kent says. "That's why it went to Burrillville." In Burrillville, business was booming and mills were everywhere. "That was the big industry here," says Joyce McKenna, president of the town's historical society. "That was about all there was. Farming wasn't much of an option." Pascoag and Harrisville were the centers of activity in Burrillville. For entertainment, there were music halls, a theater, and taverns. "Where there were mills, there were bars," McKenna says. "That was pretty much a given." And Burrillville had the railroad. So until 1914, when the electric trolley came to Chepachet from Providence, many people traveling into Glocester took the train to Oakland in Burrillville, then the stage coach into Chepachet. Though the mills were in decline, Chepachet was still a busy place. Henry Taft, who ran the giant Chepachet Inn, continued having his famous game dinners, featuring fish, venison, pheasant and grouse caught in the area. "He used to go hunting and fishing with his guests as well," Kent says. In 1902, the Rhode Island Automobile Club took over the inn. Automobiles were still an anomaly in the area. Some well-to-do owned cars; everyone else walked, rode atop a horse or behind one in a wagon or carriage. Nevertheless, Kent says, "With autos, it lost some of its intimacy." With autos, the village also lost its horse racing. Before cars were common in Chepachet, residents used to hold horse races down Main Street. "It was called the Half Mile," Kent says, and it ended in front of what is now the Brown and Hopkins store. While the auto ended the betting on horses, it also helped Providence discover Chepachet. The Providence Journal wrote this in July 1907: "One of the most picturesque and interesting of the older villages of Rhode Island, yet long one of the most inaccessible by the usual methods of transportation, Chepachet is being discovered by the automobilist as it was several years ago by the bicyclist, and is becoming one of the most popular runs out of Providence. "The distance is only 40 minutes or so by motor. It's a pleasant run of 16 miles through an interesting country. . . ." The trip became easier when the electric trolley came to Chepachet, running on the hour from 6 a.m. to midnight from Providence. Of course, Chepachet itself didn't get electricity until 1922. This meant no refrigeration in the early part of the century. During the winter, ice from ponds was sawn into blocks and carted to ice houses, where, with a thick layer of sawdust for insulation, the blocks could stay solid into the summer. Residents could have ice delivered to their homes, along with meat, fish, bread and milk. Those who lived in the country side mostly made due on their own, raising some crops and some animals, Kent says. But some things did draw them into the village.
In 1906, the townspeople held the first Old Home Days, at the Freewill Baptist Church. It was a daylong picnic and festival, held in August, meant to bring people together. And it showed, Kent says, just how different the country folk were from the village folk. Those coming into the town from the countryside would not offer "Good day" as a greeting but "How sare ye?" a throwback to Colonial times. In fact, Kent says, people from West Glocester often had different speech patterns from those from a village as close as South Glocester. "They just lived in the neighborhood, they didn't go anywhere," Kent says. "They came into town four or five times a year, the rest of the time they just stayed on the farm. They didn't have a chance to hear other types of speech." The celebration grew in size each year, though the church and the rest of the village was nearly burned to the ground in 1907 when fire destroyed several buildings after somebody put a pail of hot coals on the back porch of Bob Wade's general store. The stairs ignited and the fire soon spread to three nearby houses and several barns.
Kent says her mother in law, who was an organist for an East Providence church at the time, had driven a horse and wagon into Centredale, then taken the trolley to East Providence. "On her way back, when she got to the stable at Centredale, the man at the stable had told her Chepachet was on fire," Kent says. "Until the day she died, she regretted what she had done, but she whipped that horse all the way back." She returned in time to see the fire still burning. "At that time, we had no fire department," Kent says. "The only thing that really saved it was the winds shifted. The stiff breeze blowing to the south reversed and blew back on what had already burned."
All I can say is Thank Goodness!!!!

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Bicentennial Kick Off Event!!!


Well, it was just 200 years ago when Ira Evans bought the building and started a general store that is now Brown & Hopkins Country Store!

Here is a circa 1930's photo of William F. Hopkins (left) and James L. Brown (center), and unknown clerk amidst the offerings at the time.....Do you see the Mary Janes!!???
Yup, we still have those!! Well, not the same ones! See, somethings never change!

Well there have been a few changes.....


For one, there is no longer a spit box...thank goodness!!!

And we don't sell ammo.....or tobacco products! Both very popular items in the circa 1900 inventory ledger on display at the front of the shop.


Here are the details of our



Bicentennial Kick Off Event!


January 15th, 16th, 17th & 18th!

We are giving away 200 free gifts!!
Be one of the first 50 customers each day to receive your free Thank You Gift!!

25% off hand painted signs by Poor Boy Signs!!!

We have stocked up and have a great selection of these popular signs!


Plus, register to win a $200 Gift Certificate!!!!

Of course, we'll have lots of refreshments and goodies for you to sample!

Won't you join us?

Reminder....we are closed from January 8th thru January 14th to paint, fluff and restock!