Formerly: Freese's Tavern
Moultonborough, New Hampshire · Founded 1781 · Building: circa 1780
A working New Hampshire general store with a claimed 1781 trading origin, once a tavern, town hall, post office, library, and Masonic meeting place.
The Old Country Store in Moultonborough occupies a circa-1780 timber-frame building associated with George Freese's late-18th-century tavern and trading business. Its earliest claimed commercial transaction dates to 1781, while the National Register nomination independently documents Freese's tavern license by 1793. Over more than two centuries, the building has served as a tavern, town-meeting hall, post office, library, Masonic meeting place, mercantile store, and now a working general store with a free upstairs museum.
The store's history says General Jonathan Moulton sold the parcel to Samuel Burnham with a barn frame already on the land. The property was later sold to George Freese, described as a trader, in 1779. The underlying deeds were not independently reviewed in this pass.
Source: The Old Country Store, history page; attributed account of deed history.
The main block of the present building was constructed around 1780. The National Register nomination identifies a heavy hewn-timber frame that survives beneath later additions.
Source: National Register of Historic Places nomination for Freese's Tavern, #82001668.
The store reports that settler Bradbury Richardson's account book recorded 'labors for goods' with George Freese, the earliest cited trading transaction associated with the site. The underlying account book was not independently reviewed in this pass.
Source: The Old Country Store, history page; attributed account-book citation.
Moultonborough selectmen issued George Freese a tavern and liquor-retailer license, the earliest independently documented evidence of commercial hospitality operation at the site.
Source: National Register of Historic Places nomination for Freese's Tavern, #82001668, citing Moultonborough town records.
Morning Star Masonic Lodge was formally constituted in the tavern's meeting room by the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire.
Source: National Register of Historic Places nomination for Freese's Tavern, #82001668, citing Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire.
The building began serving as a Moultonborough town-meeting place, a civic role it held in many later years as well.
Source: National Register of Historic Places nomination for Freese's Tavern, #82001668.
Owner David Bean became Moultonborough's postmaster, beginning the building's first documented post-office period.
Source: National Register of Historic Places nomination for Freese's Tavern, #82001668, citing the New-Hampshire Annual Register.
James French, a merchant from nearby Tuftonborough, bought the building and ran an enlarged mercantile operation there until his retirement in 1869.
Source: National Register of Historic Places nomination for Freese's Tavern, #82001668.
The building's second-floor room was used by the town library from the late 1890s until around World War I.
Source: National Register of Historic Places nomination for Freese's Tavern, #82001668.
Stephen and Cecile Holden bought the store out of bankruptcy and began shifting it from a corner grocery into a destination general store and local-history attraction. Sources differ slightly on whether the purchase should be dated 1972 or 1973.
Source: Business NH Magazine; New Hampshire Magazine; Stephen A. Holden obituary.
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Freese's Tavern, #82001668, with The Old Country Store identified as its common name.
Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places.
Stephen A. Holden died at age 86. His daughter Jo Hayden, who grew up above the store, took over daily leadership with family members including her sister Laurie and a daughter-in-law.
Source: Stephen A. Holden obituary, Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette; New Hampshire Magazine.
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
The claimed 1781 beginning rests on a store-cited account-book entry recording trade with George Freese. The National Register nomination independently documents a tavern license by 1793 and later tavern, store, post-office, library, and mercantile uses. The 1781 record has not been independently reviewed, and the early-1970s bankruptcy transition has not been fully documented, so the full continuous-since-1781 claim remains plausible rather than documented.
The Old Country Store has a credible claimed 1781 trading origin and independently documented tavern operation by 1793, but the earliest account-book record has not been independently reviewed. Other stores make competing continuity claims on different bases, including Brown & Hopkins Country Store in Rhode Island, which traces continuous operation to 1809, and St. James General Store on Long Island, which traces its history to 1857. No common national standard or full competitor comparison has been completed, and a reported longtime owner declined to assert the national title.
The National Register nomination dates the principal block to circa 1780 and describes its surviving heavy hewn-timber frame beneath two centuries of additions.
The National Register nomination documents town meetings from 1816 and many later years, post-office use under David Bean beginning in 1837 and later James French until 1967, a late-19th/early-20th-century library room, and the 1805 constitution of Morning Star Masonic Lodge in the tavern meeting room.
The store's historical account says Holland's New Hampshire map, printed in London on March 1, 1784, shows the store as the only building in that part of town. The store also notes that the map's fieldwork date is unknown, so its print date may not reflect the landscape date. The map was not independently inspected in this pass.
Business NH Magazine, New Hampshire Magazine, and Stephen Holden's obituary agree that Stephen and Cecile Holden acquired the store out of bankruptcy in the early 1970s, with 1972 the most frequently reported year. After Steve Holden's January 2025 death, daughter Jo Hayden took over daily operations with family members. The exact purchase year needs reconciliation because some accounts imply 1973.
George Freese bought the store property directly from General Jonathan Moulton.
The store's own deed history says Samuel Burnham first acquired the parcel from Jonathan Moulton in 1777, with a barn frame already on the land, and George Freese later acquired it in 1779. The underlying deeds need independent review.
Source: The Old Country Store, history page; attributed deed-history account.
The Old Country Store has operated continuously as a general store since 1781.
The building's early documented commercial role was a tavern, licensed in 1793. It gradually became a mercantile store through the 1830s and 1850s. The claimed 1781 trade entry supports an early commercial lineage, not proof that the business was continuously a general store from that date.
Source: National Register of Historic Places nomination for Freese's Tavern, #82001668; The Old Country Store, history page.
The Old Country Store is conclusively America's oldest continuously operating general store.
The Old Country Store has a credible early claim, but the 1781 trade entry has not been independently reviewed and other stores hold competing continuity claims. The national title requires a common definition and source-based comparison of business identity, moves, closures, ownership transitions, and operating records.
Source: Business NH Magazine; The Old Country Store, history page; Brown & Hopkins Country Store historical listing; Suffolk County Parks, St. James General Store history.
Stephen and Cecile Holden bought the store in an exactly established year of 1972.
Most reporting gives 1972, but some accounts imply 1973. The early-1970s Holden purchase is secure; the exact closing and transfer date should be verified through bankruptcy, deed, and business records.
Source: Business NH Magazine; New Hampshire Magazine; Stephen A. Holden obituary.
The Old Country Store survived because the building repeatedly adapted to Moultonborough's needs before the Holden family deliberately turned that accumulated history into the business itself. Stephen and Cecile Holden bought the store out of bankruptcy in 1972 and shifted it from a local corner grocery toward a destination general store combining food, hardware, penny candy, local goods, and a museum of receipts and artifacts. After Steve Holden's death in January 2025, his daughter Jo Hayden continued the family operation with relatives who had grown up around the store, preserving a working business rather than a static historic attraction.
The Old Country Store occupies a circa-1780 building associated with George Freese's tavern and trading business in Moultonborough. The store reports an earliest trading transaction in 1781, while the National Register independently documents Freese's tavern license by 1793. The building later served as a town-meeting hall, post office, library, Masonic meeting place, and mercantile store before Stephen and Cecile Holden bought it out of bankruptcy in 1972 and developed the present-day general-store and museum operation.
The Old Country Store has a strong claim to be New Hampshire's oldest general-store lineage, with a reported 1781 trading transaction and an independently documented tavern license by 1793. However, this register has not completed a statewide comparison of all early New Hampshire stores, including their actual business identity, closures, ownership changes, and operating continuity. The state title is credible but not yet certified.
The Holden family has owned the Old Country Store since Stephen and Cecile Holden bought it out of bankruptcy in the early 1970s. After Stephen Holden died in January 2025, his daughter Jo Hayden took over the operation with family members including her sister Laurie and a daughter-in-law. The reviewed record does not independently identify the current legal operating entity or property ownership structure.
No. The building began as George Freese's tavern and trading business and was licensed as a tavern by 1793. It gradually took on its current mercantile character during the 1830s and especially after merchant James French bought it in 1851. It also served as a town-meeting hall, post office, library, and Masonic meeting place before becoming the general store known today.
Freese's Tavern is the building's historic National Register name, reflecting George Freese's late-18th-century tavern operation. The National Register listing, added on April 29, 1982, gives The Old Country Store as the common name. The historic tavern name identifies the building's early documented hospitality role; it does not mean the current business still operates as a tavern.
1011 Whittier Highway, Moultonborough, NH 03254
(603) 476-5750
Open seven days a week, year-round. The free museum is upstairs; allow time to browse the store, historic rooms, and displays.