1906 – 1977

The building itself was built in 1820 by Ebenezer Church, and he took on Philip Manchester in 1836 when Philip was sixteen. Then Philip’s son, Abraham, began working as soon as he was old enough. Abraham basically spent the rest of his life there. He had been educated at the Friends’ School in Providence. When Abraham died in 1919 his sister Debbie helped some, and then my great-uncle, Philip Wheeler took over the store, and he ran it until he died in 1945. At that point, my parents, Alice and Borden Tripp, said to themselves, “We really can’t let this go out of the family,” so my parents bought it and ran it until 1961.

Of course, it was never much of a money-maker. My parents were sort of unusual. My father had graduated from Harvard and my mother from Wellesley. One might think it funny that they wanted to run this old village store, but they loved the country life.

Based on an oral history interview with Anne Tripp Hopkins.

First published in “Remembering Adamsville” by the Little Compton Historical Society, 2013.

Back to Table of Contents

No tags for this post.