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Hometown Tourist: Good Hart General Store

Good Hart is a treasured place to visit right along scenic M-119, with a rich history. You’ll find a general store there from 1934 that serves as a post office, grocer and friendly community place to visit for locals and travelers of M-119 alike.

At the , it’s easy to feel at home. With a friendly crew running the place, even a wag of a tail and friendly greeting from Maggie the dog, it’s easy to come here and just want to stay awhile.

“My wife Carolyn, who has been here since 1971, she bought this store and she’s expanded it several times. I got on the scene in 1985 and then came up here when I retired from the Coast Guard and I’ve been here ever since,” said owner Jim Sutherland.

The store was built in 1934 and still serves as a grocer, a post office and a one stop shop for so many delicious homemade baked goods and deli items all in one building. You feel like you’ve known this place for a while when you visit, and that it’s been loved for many years. It’s a place you’ll hear stories and get a taste for the good life in Good Hart.

“Still a functioning post office, we have all the boxes, some are newer and they have keys and the old ones are all combination locks. The cash register is original 1903. It came from another store up in Cross Village and a fellow offered me 1,500 dollars for it a couple of years ago and I said, how do you write that out, and he said one, comma, five, zero, zero, period. I said well take the period out, put three more zeros and another comma, of course the deal fell through,” said Sutherland.

In Good Hart, where they say all you need is love, they put a lot of love into their homemade goods, sandwiches wraps and salads. And their chicken pot pies? Boy do they go fast when people catch wind of them.

“When they have a chicken pot pie, they say we’ll have to send some of those to Aunt Mary and Uncle Charlie and we’ll have to get some before we go back down south. It’s not uncommon on Labor Day weekend to come in with a 4 foot by 2 foot cooler and they’ll put pies in there and they’ll take twenty of them home,” explained Sutherland.

In the end, it’s about embracing the locals and showing the visitors that come through that Good Hart is a place that embodies just that, full of people with good hearts, a love for the homemade and the beautiful area.

“Friendly service, we’re here to make you feel better going out then when you came in. I don’t care if it’s a traffic problem, or kids or whatever, I want to make your day, I want you to have a big smile when you walk out the door,” said Sutherland.