Tag: antiques

Route 1A Relics – Ellsworth Maine

Sometimes you find the best things while trying to go somewhere else. I remember when I was growing up the adults were always sooo frustrated when the kids would go completely off the rails and stop paying attention to whatever it was, they were supposed to be paying attention to, but I surmise this are the best bits of life.

I’m an adult now with flagrantly untreated ADD so not much has changed. My need for novelty and complete lack of planning are still fierce. So, it’s not surprising to know that on the way to Acadia State Park I passed by this absolutely chaotic antique store and HAD to stop. I am so glad we did!

This place was… mental. Outside a clutter of rural relics adorned the front, skeletons danced in the upstairs windows, and a giant lobster guarded a bus that looked like it’d been turned into a little cafe. Maybe that’s for the summer, I don’t know, I usually show up to these things off-season when everything looks abandoned and apocalyptic. But the store itself was still buzzing. People were shopping, there were two cashiers, life was good.

I found a bin of driftwood out front and rummaged through it as each piece was $5, a fraction of what driftwood back home costed, and I thought my aquarium fish deserved a nice addition to their decor. Inside the place looked even more like a barn than the outside with exposed beams and wood floors. I loved the atmosphere already, but it took a decidedly even more lovable turn the more we ventured inside. There were a number of vendors here who clearly had an eccentric sense of humor, or at least an unconventional decorating style. One corner drew me to it with its large arched window and posters plastered randomly in all directions all over the aforementioned arch. That vendor was selling action figures and animal bones. Because those two things are very complimentary. Just across from this was a huge assortment of brand-new books, the remnants of a failed bookstore I’m guessing. I picked up a really unique looking volume on New England folklore here and begrudgingly paid almost full price. It just was too damn interesting to leave.

In another room we found a life size Spiderman, tangled in webs on the ceiling, looking like he was about to be devoured by a black widow. I’m no expert on comics but I’m not sure that’s how that story goes… Aquaman was also on the ceiling, as I’m sure he’s accustomed, riding the top of a hanging canoe. And if that wasn’t alarming enough clowns started to appear, a life size It and a life-size Batman in a distressingly seductive pose neither of us could figure out. It wasn’t even the sexy revisionist Batman of the 80’s to present, it was the classic cartoonish version.

I was also delighted to see a whole booth of weird fish pottery. You cannot beat the absolute strangeness of local artists. All this wonderful ambiance seemed to be the heart of this adventure. It’s almost as if I’ve forgotten to mention the antiques! There were a number of them in this shop, and as is custom they ranged in price with the most affordable in the basement and the most insanely priced on the top floor. Really a nice assortment of everything small and quirky.

My companion left that day with an old Zippo lighter. It was shiny, and contains fire, so I could see the appeal. We both bought some bomb mittens that according to the cashier a sweet old lady had made from old sweaters. I have used them since, and they are really warm!! Highly recommended if you need a pair!

Annnnywaaay, if you happen to need a little whimsy in your life or like antiquing for small objects this is really where it’s at, and it’s near a lot of touristy things too if you come in the summer.

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Indian Trail Antiques – Newcastle Maine

Antique stores in Maine tend to be “junk shops,” usually old barns kept by hoarders who need to prove to the town they’re selling shit, not hoarding it in an unsafe manner. This barn however…. WOW, was it chic!

This was by far the first antique store I’ve ever been to that had an honest to god RACING BOAT. Not a replica, not a toy, an actual goddamn racing boat! As well as an old car, an old Harley, a swank cast iron stove, some terrifying huge store front dolls, the customary Gothic looking pram, an awesome dollhouse made of old cigar boxes, some really weird spicy magazines, and a sweat box. “Great for the kids!” according to the guy running the place. The sweat box was clearly not made for children. It was just a big DIY wooden box with a chair inside and a round hole cut out for an adult’s head to pop out of. Looked like a torture device!

I was really enjoying looking at these peculiar items but I was made a little skittish by the shop keep who was tailing us the entire time, pacing nervously in a manner that was making me wonder if I was about to steal something! Like I could. Everything in here was the size of a washing machine. Not that this was my reasoning for not stealing something, I’m just not a thief, especially of sweet little mom and pop stores! His constant check-ins were the reason my hands weren’t steady when I snapped a VERY blurry photo of the most racist painting I’ve ever seen in my life of a bunch of minstrel-eque/mamie-esqu caricatures chasing their children around with a baseball bat, I guess in retribution because they were smoking cigarettes. The more we looked at it the more we were muttering, “What the actual fuck?” I’m annoyed the photo came out blurry because oooph.

We left empty handed because I’m neither rich nor that racist. I was happy to be out of there. Even though I very much enjoyed looking at the antiques the fact we were being followed the entire time was really amping up my anxiety in a negative way. My companion said to be fair he was close behind everyone in the shop that day, which might be why they all left after a very short visit!

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Endless Treasures – Jaffrey New Hampshire

Its funny when you finally notice the things you have passed by dozens of times. Endless Treasures was deffinately that but to be fair I dont think its been there for that long.

This place was an absolute trip. The sign out front reads, “Group Shop – Consignment – Vintage – Collectibles – Antiques – Thrift Items.” And it didn’t lie! Never have I seen a shop so uncertain of what it actually was. Was it an antique store? An artist friendly market? A thrift store? ALL OF THE ABOVE!

And because it was having such an intense identity crisis it was an adventure walking through the isles. I must say there was a surprising amount of nice furniture for exceptionally decent prices. Mixed in with these were genuine antiques like a series of old wooden canary cages whose labels read bafflingly, “European bird house.” And then there was an assortment of bizarre DIY folk art and retro Halloween decorations dotting several of the vendor booths.

And then I found the weirdest thing to take home. It was so funny I took a video.

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1810 House B&B and Antiques – Wolfboro New Hampshire

Main street antique stores with well-arranged display cases are fun but as for myself I prefer the quirkier establishments – basement antiques, mill antiques, and of course barn antiques. Much to my delight this store was in a barn out back of a cute little B&B. It was so quintessentially White Mountain-y.

And for being a barn it was WELL ventilated and cool. We saw all sorts of antiques, most of which were clearly linked to the local area. Ancient toys, old farming tools, a couple accordions, even a wooden opium pillow. What wasn’t to love? It was halfway like shopping and halfway like visiting a roadside country museum. I loved every bit of this place from its rustic inventory, to the chickens out back, to the cute little inn next door. It was the perfect way to end our journey into the white mountains and if you’re in the area go check it out! It’s a lot of fun!

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Rockin’ Thru the Ages Antiques and Collectibles – East Laconia New Hampshire

We were having such a great day we weren’t ready to go home just yet so we looked up another antique store and found the Rockin’ Thru the Ages Antiques which was… an absolute riot. LOVED this place! It was the only antique store I’ve ever been to that had mini golf course out the back door. And inside? A rock wall. Clearly this place used to be something else but now it was an antique store I was loving how quirky it was.

This place was after my heart when right at the entrance there was two ventriloquist dummies sitting on the floor, slack-jawed, just gawking at people coming in. One was a Howdy Doody and the other was the same dummy I keep finding and not being able to buy. He was fully intact and only $35 and obviously almost came home with me. Only reason he didn’t was because he ended up being a pull string doll instead of a proper ventriloquist dummy. SIGH. SO CLOSE.

The main floor of this place was nice, spacious, good variety of things. My companion was a little weirded out by the display case of Nazi medals at the back. I was more freaked out by the wrought iron handcuffs that had a little label stating they were from a prison back in the day. Clearly an otherwise bright and happy store had this weird corner of human depravity. We shuffled off.

Downstairs was more fun because it was the epitome of basement antiques. SO MANY CLOWNS. And they were all hobos. Why? NO IDEA. I was already working through my own hobo related trauma after learning Candy Mountain, that sweet, adorable children’s song, actually had several lyrics that were censored from the final cut. Basically, it was narrated by a runaway boy telling a hobo pedophile to fuck off. And that’s what I was thinking about when I saw the hobo clowns. Adding clown make-up to the mix did not help.

All kidding aside this place had some weird things including a leather wine holder in the shape of a rooster. And the prices were unbeatable. I found an antique ceramic Jack-O-Lantern and brought him home for $5.

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Whitney Hill Antiques – Greenfield MA

One thing about exploring new places is that if you do it often enough you will run out of things to poke at in the area and will have to travel farther and farther away. That’s when it’s nice to have stops along the way! On this particular venture we wandered to a different corner of Massachusetts, one I had very little familiarity with. At the end of our destination, we were promised a large antique store, and we were not disappointed!

Whitney Hill Antiques is a multi-vendor antique mall that spans over three eccentric floors. As with every antique store we go to this one had its own character and on this particular day that would be because it was LOADED with paintings, photos, and other portraits of probably long dead children. You know the sort of thing you hang on your wall as an insta-ancestor or to beckon a haunting at your place. Seriously. Creepy, haunted, children. Swarms of them.

Not to be outdone there was also an assortment of terrifying dolls – one was even three feet tall. Don’t do that. Don’t make dolls 3 feet tall. It’s alarming. Another bizarre find was the first porcelain doll I have ever seen that possessed a mask. Why, I could not tell you. Perhaps it needed to hide its identity while haunting some poor child’s bedroom.

With this many vendors there was A LOT to go through and we spent a few hours here just overwhelmed by the variety of weird things. And most were pretty decently priced too. This definitely wasn’t a high-end market. I didn’t bring anything home this time, but this is definitely somewhere I would visit again and suggest to others who may be in the area.

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Oh My Gosh Antiques and Collectibles – Sterling MA

We found yet another win with this one! This antique store really stood out for having 4 dedicated display rooms full to the brim with Halloween antiques. They weren’t for sale as they were the private collection of the owner but wow, they were fun to gawk at just the same! And there was actually a number of Halloween antiques throughout the store that were for sale as well. It all delighted me to the core. I am SO HAPPY to see Halloween becoming a serious competitor for Christmas. It makes my darkened heart leap for joy. A win for all the freaks among us!

But back to the antique mall – this place was pretty sizable and had a very good diversity of dealers. It had multiple floors, all in a barn-like environment that got sweatier the further up you climbed but honestly at this point I feel like that’s part of having an authentic experience at these places.

There was a lot to find – old movie memorabilia, creepy dolls, tons of cutesy country chic decor, a whole room of homemade soaps and body butters, a display cabinet full of dolls who had heavy metal make overs by what I am guessing is a local artist. All gave this place a lot of personality. I loved it. Would highly suggest giving this place a little lookey loo if you’re into these sorts of things.

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Country Bumpkin Antiques – Gardner MA

My travel companion lives in RI and I live in Southern NH and if I am capable I generally go down to Rhode Island, a two and a half hour drive, once a week so we can go adventuring. Lately we’ve been going to A LOT of antique stores and quite a few fish stores as well, mostly because it’s still over 80 degrees out during the day and he doesn’t want to kill me. (He’s fine in the heat, should really apply as Satan’s apprentice. He’d do great in Hell – heatwise anyway.) But all this means we have been scraping the bottom of the barrel for places to go close to Rhode Island. We’ve been to all the antique stores in RI, most throughout the Boston area, and a good deal in Connecticut too.

And that’s how I ended up driving back to about 20 minutes from where I live to check out an antique store in a church that didn’t exist anymore. I was… annoyed. And then while googling places nearby he came up with this place in Gardner – the city where a good amount of my extended family lives and none of them have ever had anything good to say about it. I was dubious.

But sometimes when you expect nothing you get a lovely surprise and that’s what happened on this particular day. The first thing we saw was a huge swarm of animals made from repurposed metal. One or two of these can be cute. A swarm just looks… junk yard-y. I raised my eye brow. Where we about to relive another Cookie’s moment wandering haplessly into what could be a serial killer’s den? I wasn’t ruling it out.

We walked inside and it was more or less like the decorative section of a feed store. Lots of things for your lawn and so many house plants. I thought this was an antique store? It took us a minute to wander fully in and we found out this place was much larger than it looked on the outside and downstairs were indeed all the antiques as well as more plants, metal animals, knitted plushies, bad taxidermy, modern Halloween decorations, and homemade soaps. This place had no idea what it was! Which made it charming to me. I was far less annoyed leaving the place than I was going in and to be honest I might be back to take a more serious look at all those delightful cacti and succulents when I feel ready to try house plants again.

Anyway…. if you’re in the area and looking for a…. different…. experience you should totally check it out!

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Under the Bed Antiques – Stoughton MA

Under the Bed Antiques was a fun little adventure. Admittedly I had a hard time finding it. It was much easier to find the mattress store which is above it – which I guess explains the adorable store name! But anyway, it was around the corner and in the basement where there was a few parking spaces and a modest sign.

I have been to so many antique stores by now that I am sort of running out of descriptive words but this place? It had its own feel, and that feel was punk! Punk to the max with a mixing of Kitch and nostalgia. The first thing that greeted us was a Home Alone doll that I am sure was up to something. I mean look at the expression on that face!

Beyond that was a fairly decently sized antique mall with all sorts of delightfully quirky vendors. I was just having so much fun here. Of course there was the usual fare of potentially possessed dolls and creepy clowns but it was absolutely lacking in racist bullshit! And in its place it had some fucking weird music related antiques. Truely bizarre records (which I didn’t look through because I know I’d want them all!) As well as retro clothes ranging from Grateful Dead Bear swimming trunks to punky drainpipes. And then we found the prettiest damn accordion I have ever seen nestled in a corner with a two-foot-tall Joe Camel plushie. Just mental. My companion also noted that every booth was playing different contradictory music which really soothes the chaos demons.

What this place lacked in size it made up in character and I LOVED it. Well worth a visit!

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Stanley Mill Antiques – Uxbridge MA

Another antique mall in a mill! And it’s in the same town as our last pick Bernat Antiques.

This place at first seemed very desolate. It has a huge parking lot which was so empty we weren’t even sure if the place was open. But it was… and it was sufficiently large and weird enough for a very satisfying poke.

I always love the places that have surprise extra floors or a basement full of cheaper oddities. This place didn’t disappoint in that department! Mixed in with the usual assortment of cute little glass bottles there was a joyous mixture of ill-titled books, locally created art, some bizarre cast iron banks, tiny pans, and even a dish that looked like an ammonite.

The Wizard of Oz collectable Jack in the boxes were absolute nightmare fuel and I’m all for that. As well as the child sized pantaloons because well, where else are you going to find that?? This place had a real nice mix of things and price ranges depending on the booth that caught your eye. And interestingly enough it also was lacking in racist bullshit. I mean there was some but not nearly as much as I’d expected…

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