Take time to stop in Salisbury
Part 3:
The Garden Path, The Farm
[AUG.
25, 2000]
Next
to the Morning Star Mercantile and Café (on the opposite side from
the Colin Folk Art Gallery) is a new garden center called The Garden
Path, where you can shop for climbing roses or tomato plants.
Robbin Nickelson, a first-time business owner, is happy to help
answer any gardening questions you may have.
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"We’ve
very close to a booming community. People like to get away from the
population. I’ve had a lot of community support. We’re not the
little "trapped-on-your-condominium-type gardener here—we
have acreage to deal with," she said.
The
business, with three part-time and two full-time employees, occupies
a 5,000-square-foot building that once housed an oak furniture
business but had been vacant for two years. It also once served as a
community building and gas station.
Nickelson
offers a good variety of plants to pick from, especially roses,
herbs and perennials, which fill the lot behind the business. This
is a friendly place to purchase some additions to your flower bed.
In fact, both her father and father-in-law may be the one loading
your purchases for you. She plans to offer even more varieties next
year when her two greenhouses, currently being constructed, are
completed.
She
holds seminars twice a month at the center. Future plans also call
for a library room, complete with garden reference books, for
educational purposes—to answer questions and allow customers to
read books and watch tapes about gardening. "We’re trying to
do the Barnes-and-Noble-type of a garden center," she said.
"Business
is excellent. It’s very, very promising so far."
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After
shopping for art and flowers, it’s well worth the effort to stop
at The Farm. A trip to this Menard County family-owned business just
a few miles down the road from Salisbury is like a breath of fresh
air. After a scenic drive down a country road, you drive over a
small bridge to get to the large red horse barn, which is where Gail
Adamski sells dried flowers, herbs and gifts.
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column in this section)
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On
bluffs overlooking the Sangamon River, Adamski (sister-in-law to
tearoom owner Pat), has orchestrated a patchwork of neatly organized
theme gardens, all planted behind the backdrop of the barn. After
shopping for lavender-filled sachets or a new dried-flower wreath
for your front door, treat your senses by strolling through the
gardens. The gardens are not only educational, but will give you
more than enough ideas to use in your own yard.
There
is a children’s garden, complete with a life-size hopscotch board
made of alternating squares of creeping thyme and gravel; a lemon
garden, planted with lemon-scented herbs and flowers; a lover’s
garden, tucked away in a private corner, featuring plants with
Cupid-inspired names like "kiss-me-over-the-garden-gate"
and "love-lies-bleeding."
Adamski,
who opened her shop in 1995, a year after planting the theme
gardens, doubled its size in 1997. Last year, she added a
greenhouse, from which you can purchase herbs and flowers.
She
and her family moved to rural Petersburg from Springfield 14 years
ago to operate a Christmas tree farm on 40 acres. Three acres are
planted in Christmas trees, which the Adamskis still sell, but the
gardens and dried flower and herb business have been so successful,
they have taken center stage.
And
this summer, at least one antique shop is expected to open, adding
to the booming business growth. Across the street from the tearoom
and art gallery, Salisbury resident Perry O’Connor is working day
and night remodeling the one-time hardware store owned by his late
parents. He plans to open an art, antiques and collectibles business
in the building, which originally was a grocery store and town hall.
So
next time you plan to take visiting relatives to a drive to New
Salem or have a reason to travel to Menard County, take the time to
stop in Salisbury — you’ll be glad you did.
[Penny
Zimmerman-Wills]
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Take time to stop in Salisbury
Part 2: Colin Folk Art Gallery
[AUG.
24, 2000]
After
having lunch in Salisbury at the Morning Star Mercantile and Café,
you can walk next door to the Colin Folk Art Gallery, where the
conversation with owners George and Winnie is as delightful and
colorful as the chalk paintings they sell.
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The
couple is delighted if you appreciate George’s paintings, which
fill every wall of the three-year-old gallery, but they get just as
much enjoyment showing you the new baby birds perched in a branch
just outside the gallery door. After a few minutes and a few stories
they gladly share about how they became successful in this tiny
town, visitors are soon considered friends. In fact, when I left the
shop on a recent visit, Winnie thanked me for my visit, saying it
was the best thing about her day. I felt the same way.
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The
large, colorful sign advertising the shop’s location isn’t
really needed—the splashes of yellow, red and purple paint on
benches nestled in flower beds, birdhouses hanging from trees, and
just about anything made out of wood, which dot the yard of their
home and gallery, are proof. And Winnie, with her red hair and heart
of gold, delights in the attention her husband’s artwork has
brought them and the town.
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You
get the feeling, though, that they both would be happy with or
without the success and notoriety. "I will never leave
Salisbury. We love it. Spiritually, it’s got a feeling. We came,
we saw, we conquered," Winnie said. "I think it’s a very
nice safe place to live. The people are wonderful."
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column in this section)
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When
they moved there 35 years ago to be close to New Salem, there were
two taverns, two antique shops and "weeds as high as our
house," she said. Although now her husband’s colorful,
primitive chalk paintings of nature and Midwest scenes have landed
him in the American Musuem of Folk Art in New York and on the cover
of national magazines, George and Winnie still live in a converted
garage just feet away from main street—adding one room at a time
over the years as they could afford it.
"Who
is going to buy art in Salisbury?" was a comment often heard,
the artist said.
Even
though they serve clients like Senator Dick Durbin, Oprah Winfrey,
former governors and presidents, the notoriety and success hasn’t
changed what they enjoy most in life—greeting visitors from their
small corner of the world.
[Penny
Zimmerman-Wills]
(Note:
This article concludes on Friday.)
(To
Part 3 of this article)
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Take time to stop in Salisbury
Part 1: Morning Star Mercantile and
Café
[AUG.
23, 2000]
Salisbury
may not ever make the top 10 list of tourist attractions in Illinois
— it’s not even listed on the state map. But for those who take
the time to slow down while traveling on Route 97 from Springfield
to New Salem and Petersburg, they will find a delightful place to
wile away a few hours, have a leisurely lunch and watch the world go
by.
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Salisbury,
just a short drive from Lincoln, is located about 12 miles northwest
of Springfield and about the same distance south of New Salem. This
town of approximately 150 people (no one knows for sure, since the
population sign is missing) is loaded with charm and tranquillity
and maybe the friendliest people you will ever meet. I still smile
when I remember the enjoyable afternoon I spent there several weeks
ago.
There
was a time not so long ago that the business section of town
consisted only of two taverns, two churches and some folk art
scattered along the road as advertising for a local business. These
fixtures are all still there — but so is a new tearoom, gift shop,
garden center and nearby herb farm. Plans are also under way for an
antique shop to open soon. There may still be a few rickety
buildings that have seen better days and a few boarded up
storefronts scattered among the new signs of economic growth, but
that just adds to the charm of the place.
Salisbury
has become one of my favorite places to share a cup of coffee and a
piece of homemade pie with a friend on the front porch of the rustic
tearoom that blends right into the primitive countryside. I’m not
the only one who enjoys the charm of the Morning Star Mercantile and
Café — it’s been packing in people for lunch since opening
nearly two years ago.
Pat
Adamski, who owns the business with her parents, Bill and Georgia
Adamski, not only cooks and serves homemade pies and sandwiches in
the rustic structure made from salvaged wood from a 100-year-old
barn, she also lives above the restaurant.
(To top of second
column in this section)
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Adamski
says she gets a lot of comments from customers about how much they
like the decor of the rustic building. The warm wood floors, beams,
ceilings and walls are like a warm blanket on a chilly spring day.
The massive stone fireplace, the featured attraction on one wall,
was patterned after those at New Salem, adding to the ambience of
the tearoom, which feels like part old general store, part log cabin
and part bed-and-breakfast. Mismatched, simple wooden tables and
chairs culled at country auctions and estate sales complete the
decor. My favorite place to indulge in a chicken crepe or dessert,
however, is out on the expansive front porch, decorated with hanging
flower baskets and antique trellises.
This
is a family business and it shows. Adamski’s father and brothers
built the building, and her mother is usually found in the kitchen,
washing dishes or helping out in other ways.
The
menu includes a soup of the day (including chili during October
through May), cashew chicken salad, olive nut spread, smoked turkey,
chicken crepes and special broccoli salad, which is a crowd pleaser.
Desserts such as apple-nut dessert, carrot cake and coconut cream
pie are consumed rapidly by customers. You get the feeling many
local residents have made this a daily or weekly part of their
routine.
Hours
are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, but lunch is served
from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Drinks, baked items, and desserts and ice
cream are served all day.
After
eating lunch, you can shop in a section of the building packed with
candles and other craft items.
[Penny
Zimmerman-Wills]
(Note:
This article continues Thursday and Friday.)
(To
Part 2 of this article)
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