By: Sam Dostaler

The Unlikely Story Bookstore and Café entered our world in an unlikely way. In the area for an afternoon meeting and after playing a round of golf at nearby Heather Hill Country Club, the idea was to head to a shopping complex to find a Starbucks for a snack and internet access.

That plan, however, was quickly altered. Just minutes after leaving the course, An Unlikely Story Bookstore and Café appeared. Plans were scrapped. The car was parked, and moments later we were inside. That’s when the unlikely story began to unfold.

In New England, old buildings become new again. One chapter closes, then another one opens. In many cases, the revitalization of a building can feel unlikely. Sometimes the new name reflects that. Enter the Unlikely Story Bookstore and Café in Plainville, Massachusetts.

The story actually started a few blocks away. Unlikely Bookstore and Café owner Jeff Kinney, better known as the author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, wrote the first book just a stone's throw away from the building that would become his bookstore.

Originally constructed in 1856, this pre-Civil War building used to watch horses trot down the street; now it watches as minivans full of kids pull into the parking lot.

Over its 170-year history, the building has been the home to a general store, a pharmacy, a tea room, a restaurant, and then again a general store, called Falk’s Market, before finally evolving into the bookstore and café that it is today.

Described as "derelict" to Jeff and his wife Julie, the duo tapped into the building’s history and, after the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid royalty check was cashed, it was time to create the building's latest chapter. As we walk through the door, the word derelict is the furthest thing from mind. But we are looking at the post-May 2015 version of the store. Not the version Jeff and Julie purchased in 2012, after years of abandonment. Years that add another layer to a story and a town cornerstone building that is now on its sixth life.

The store has everything that you would expect at a modern-day indie bookstore. A café, shelves of books featuring everything from bestsellers to books submitted by local authors. Plus a second floor with the space to host readings, workshops, wine tasting, family game nights, and karaoke.

In short, a space to add to the story of the building, to the town, and to the lives of members of the Plainville community.

A story that is subtly woven together from past to present throughout the store.

"We found the signs, the photos of the signs, and then we recreated the signs. So all the way around the perimeter, in order of existence, are the things this building used to be," Jeff told CBS News in 2021.

A sign above the shelves reads ‘General Store’; another, pharmacy; the floors came from a horseshoe nail making company in Dorchester, Massachusetts; the logo that features an elephant holding a book, well, that is a nod to the circus prize elephant that sat in the store window in the 1800s.

“I thought, ‘That's a great logo for us. That's a great mascot because an elephant never forgets,” Jeff explained in a 2026 interview with WBUR Boston. “And one of the things that we try to do is preserve the history of Plainville in the new space.”

Small details. But ties that link the past to the present and the future.

Rapidly, our present was becoming the past. Our unlikely discovery had yielded an unlikely story. A story that will continue to unfold day after day. Just as it has for generations on a tiny street corner in Plainville, Massachusetts.

Editor’s Note: Some information for this article came from The Today Show, CBS News, and WBUR

Yale. But in Old Saybrook, Connecticut?

On the way to Saybrook Point along the Connecticut shoreline, I have often driven past a large boulder situated inside a large, well-kept, fenced-in area. Each time I have driven by, I have wondered what the boulder symbolized. However, with no easy pullover location, I have always kept driving.

Finally, on an early morning drive to nearby Fenwick Golf Course (a history to share at another time), I made the decision that I was going to stop.

So I pulled over, grabbed my camera, waited for a car or two to pass, and crossed the street. I’m not sure what I was expecting to find, but it wasn’t that the world-famous Yale University had been founded in 1701 and first located in Old Saybrook. Yale would remain in Old Saybrook until 1716, when the university’s trustees voted to move the school to its well-known home in New Haven.

Now all that was left to mark the spot where Yale University began was an unremarkable boulder. But sometimes, the unremarkable things can tell the biggest stories.

Jules & Indy Custom Embroidery (Vermont)

When traveling, especially to popular locations such as Stowe, Vermont, souvenir options can begin to feel repetitive. But on occasion, something can make you stop and pause.

Jules & Indy Custom Embroidery did just that on an idyllic Thursday summer evening during Stowe’s weekly Art on Park. We stopped. We paused. We walked away with a sweatshirt that was uniquely Vermont.

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The Nor’easter: No. 7 - Publish Date: September 3

The Nor'easter - Stories of New England. The people, seasons, places & traditions. Building a community for those who are New England.

The Nor’easter is a publication of the New England Travel Journal