Hi All! I took a break last week from blogging because, honestly, I was having a down week. Mother's Day was hard and I guess the shutdown was getting to me. The fact that the week ended with a truly bad wind storm ravishing through our town of Groton leaving a huge tree going through the roof of my barn didn't help either. More on that later. Right now I would like to share with you how living in this little Massachusetts town has been a comfort to me and my husband during this time of the coronavirus crisis.
As this shutdown has progressed I have found a true appreciation for our hometown of Groton. Although it is my husband who has the deepest love for Groton between the two of us and I am the one who feels it is time to move on and reside closer to our children and grandchildren, I have to say that Groton has been a place of security and happiness for me while we have been hunkering down.
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| Gibbet Hill |
I have come to appreciate how self-sufficient Groton is. That is not to say that we have tons of stores and shops in town, because we do not. I have complained about the lack of "cool" and fun stores for as long as I can remember. However, over the many years we have lived here I now see that slowly there has been an influx of commercial providers that have made it so Tom and I can have most, if not all, of our needs met well within the borders of our New England town.
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| Groton School |
Before the pandemic, Groton was slowly becoming a town that offered a variety of nicely appointed and individually owned and run restaurants. Gibbet Hill Grill and Gibbet Hill Barn, all housed on the same property, practically put Groton's name single-handedly on the map. They have offered a place for weddings, special events and even after funeral get-togethers while also providing a local meeting place in order to have a wonderful dining experience while also offering a rustic hillside view. People from all over came to either dine at the Grill or go to a special occasion at the Barn.
Since Gibbet Hill's opening, over a decade ago, we have added such places as Filho's, a BYOB Italian restaurant which serves delicious and traditional Italian food with a very casual but very fun atmosphere. The place on Friday and Saturday nights has been almost impossible to get into if you want to find a table to dine-in. It has always offered take-out and, hopefully, has not suffered during the shutdown. It has been a thriving business in town and having a liquor store right next door made the BYOB part of the whole experience very easy and appealing for patrons.
Next came the rebuilding of the old Groton Inn which had been a victim to fire and stayed an eyesore as an empty lot in the center of town for years until a hotel company came along and rebuilt it. The result was a beautiful inn that looked like it had always been there and replicated the original inn. The Groton Inn has been a gem sitting on Main Street for a few years now and is a true asset to the town. It has supplied needed lodging for visiting parents whose children attend the private high schools in town and for people joining in on wedding celebrations, etc. at Gibbet Hill or the Inn itself.
On top of rebuilding the Inn, they also built a beautiful and stylish restaurant called the Forge and Vine on the property. The restaurant features farm-to-table cuisine along with many chef specialties and has a lovely view of Gibbet Hill, as well. The Inn too, was another local place, as well as, a destination restaurant for diners to hang out with friends and get a delicious meal. Unfortunately, when the shutdown order hit Massachusetts, the Inn and the restaurant closed until further notice.
Another restaurant that was forced to close was the newly opened Groton Station House Restaurant. This restaurant resides in the refurbished old fire station in town right behind the Town Hall. Since my husband had played basketball with one of the owners for years, we were given a tour very soon after the restaurant opened. The décor is upscale and the restaurant has a nice vibe and the food is excellent. Since the restaurant had previously planned for outside dining I hope they will be able to open in the second stage of our state's reopening bringing people back to Groton restaurants.
Along with the aforementioned places, we also have the Gilson's Lyceum, a very special dining experience, a few pizza places, two or three sandwich shops, a Mexican restaurant and a butchery that sells the best sandwiches at a very reasonable price.
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Groton also has its very own bakery, as well. Its owner, Raffaela, and I have forged a casual friendship which started when Raffaela contacted me after I placed a marketing display in my/our bank to highlight my business a few years ago. You can read about that story here, if you would like. We talked about how hard it was starting a business by yourself, company website design and a bunch of other things. While I have stayed pretty small with my floral design business and only working out of my home, Raffaela rented a storefront and has made quite a name for herself in town. Her baked creations are delicious!! Raffaela and I worked on a wedding together, as well. Raffaela had given my name to one of her brides who was looking for a florist. The wedding was held at the Gibbet Hill Grill and, I think, turned out quite lovely. You can see that wedding story here, as well, if you would like.
Groton also houses a CVS, a health food store, several DD's (Dunkin Donuts for those of you who don't know that term), a medical center, a hospital (partially in Groton), a town owned country club offering golf and pool, a florist, dry cleaners, hairdressers, several farms, a few garden nurseries and just this month, a Dollar Store. Oh, and I almost forgot, we have a wonderful Ace Hardware store, a multi-generationally owned store, which happens to be owned by my neighbor.
In many ways, Groton, is a quintessential New England town.
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| Outdoor Fireplace at the Groton Inn |
To add to the list of amenities, we have a rail trail, nature walks, other restaurants, commercial companies and two prestigious private high schools. One of the schools is Groton School, where several US presidents have gone for their education and training. One such president was FDR.
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| Lawrence Academy |
So now that I have laid out the framework of our town, let me explain why my appreciation has grown for Groton. When the pandemic started, like many people, we were scared and didn't know what was in store. Tom brought his office home and set it up to work out of our family room. I tried to stay as busy as I could with various projects around the house and the managing of my mother's care from a distance. However, even though we are blessed to have a fairly large lot, over two acres in which to walk around, like many of you, we needed to get out of the house once in a while. We started taking walks on the Rail Trail everyday, weather permitting, and really enjoyed it. The walks gave Tom a break from work, which thankfully, has been steady and us time to talk to each other and to get some needed exercise. As time has passed we have enjoyed seeing various wildlife such as baby ducklings and goslings being born along the way.
We enjoy seeing the horses too!
Also before the shutdown, every Friday we would go out to a restaurant with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. It has been a tradition for so many years I cannot count. That, of course, stopped but we needed a new way to spend our Friday nights. This is where the Gibbet Hill Grill comes in. Almost from the beginning the Grill has been offering curbside meals with safety clearly in mind. All orders were done over the phone and paid ahead of time. You choose a time for pick up and when you arrive in your parked car a person comes out with gloves and a mask and places your order in the opened back seat window or opened trunk of your car. We have felt safe every time we have ordered and it has been a nice way to end the week. Sometimes we call our old dinner buddies just to talk.
In the same way, our butchery has set up safety measures, as well, so when we tire of pb&js or fried egg sandwiches, we pre-order chicken salad or roast beef sandwiches for a change of pace. We have even placed meat orders when it looked like the supply of meat would be in jeopardy. So, we have eaten very well during all of this. I guess it is a good thing we are taking our walks!
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| Remnants of the Castle at the top of Gibbet Hill |
In addition to the Rail Trail we also have access to a path that goes to the top of Gibbet Hill which has a view that I think rivals many other scenic views. The photo below is the view during the fall. Last night Tom and I took a walk up to the top of the hill but neither one of us had our phones. I wish we could have taken a photo. The view was truly breathtaking with the green of spring and trees lined up like they were part of a toy train set. Just beautiful! And that is in our town! We are so lucky~
We have done some small household projects and have been able to get many of the needed supplies at the hardware store. Our local Shaw's Market has offered special hours and has been pretty well stocked most of the time. Our medicine needs and such are taken care of by CVS and the two banks we use are both in town, as well.
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| Lawrence Academy |
The other part of feeling safe and comfortable has been that while we are in a state heavily hit by the coronavirus, Groton, at last count, only had 35 cases, which is low for Massachusetts. I think it is because we are quite rural. I know the counts will probably move slightly upward but, we are socially distancing, wearing masks and gloves and washing our hands so, we are all trying to do our part to stay safe.
So, during this time of isolation and worry, we have felt that we need not travel outside of the borders of our town much at all. Groton has been taking care of most of our needs. That has been a great blessing. Of course, none of this takes into account that my children and grandchildren do not live in Groton. They all live approximately an hour from us. That is a problem and one that might have to be remedied at some point but, for Groton's part it has been more than a "little town that could" and I am eternally grateful for that.
To end the story of my rough week I must tell you that my son-in-law, Eric, came to our rescue after the storm. Eric owns a tree removal company and as I have said lives an hour away. He brought a crew to our house the very same day we discovered the tree on the roof of the barn and took care the tree for us. He masterfully loaded it onto one of his trucks and it was no longer our problem and relieved us of that stress. I also should mention how kind and concerned our neighbors were for our situation. I think dwelling on these kindnesses has made this week a better week for me. I know that things will get better. I am very thankful that no one got hurt. I also know that while this is a tough time, we will get through it...together. I hope you are feeling this way, too:).
I will be back with more "Designs and Events" stuff next week, I promise :)!
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