Where to Eat in Williamstown, MA for Foodies and Families

Reflecting on the best meal our family ate during travel around the Berkshires Mountains of Williamstown, Massachusetts this summer, I’m smiling just remembering The Store at Five Corners.

This historic restaurant, cafe, and market spells mealtime success both for snooty foodies like me, and families with young, messy, and rambunctious children like ours. Let’s see why…

Our family of four stumbled upon this 200-year-old establishment whilst careening down the highway, ravenous with hunger after summiting nearby Mount Greylock.

“I HUNGRY MAMA!” howled our eldest, gnawing at his seatbelt. It was 15 minutes past nap-time, and sustenance and sleep were of the essence.

I punched the food search into my phone’s Yelp app, holding it out the window for cell service.

“Umm,” pull in here, I told my husband, Colin, hoping for the best as The Store at Five Corners simultaneously popped on my screen and into real-life view. Colin screeched into the parking lot, and we all tumbled out.

As the delightful building hinted, it turns out that The Store at Five Corners has origins dating back to 1761, when the edifice was launched as a log cabin, then tavern. Until it briefly closed in 2011 for renovations, it was considered one of the longest continually-operating businesses in the entire United States!

The interior of the store is a charming country store and restaurant, but I have no photos of it because our son sprinted to the massive block of local cheese, wrapped his arms around it, and wailed that he wanted to eat the whole thing immediately.

In other words, I could not place my hands on my camera while inside the store, or that cheese would have been a goner, and I would have been in debt for however much 50 pounds of cheese costs these days.

We placated the little guy with some fancy yet mildly healthy local popcorn, then placed our lunch order and headed out to the patio seating.

Let’s begin counting the family-friendly, foodie-friendly checkboxes, shall we?

For families: Look at this outdoor seating. Sure, there is a lovely indoor area with windows overlooking the greenery, but when you have two squirrely kiddos, the jackpot is finding an open field like this one for them to cavort through… with a playground conveniently in back, too! The adjoining farm was also way cool, though we didn’t have time to explore it before nap-nearing meltdowns.

For foodies: Holy moly was the food at this store delicious. In addition to the crispy, baked-on-the-spot pesto pizza pictured above, we ordered the New England-proud “Herman Melville Sandwich” which boasts fresh smoked salmon, local goat cheese, avocado, and red onion on peasant bread. I mean, come ON. Look at this thing…

I’ll leave you now to linger with the luscious the taste of goat cheese on your mind’s tongue. Should you find yourself near Williamstown, Massachusetts in the future, perhaps during a visit to MASS MoCA or the Clark Art Museum, do your tum-tum a flavor favor and pop by The Store at Five Corners. I know I’ll be back!

So what do you think? Have you ever tried this restaurant and store? Would you like to? Do share!