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by Margo Callaghan

Current owner Jerry Fisher's earliest recollection of the building that houses The Old Shed in Shelburne Shopping Park goes back at least 60 years. "It was the milk house or the hen house for the farm that was owned by Tink Strong," Fisher recalled. "I remember working on that farm as a kid back in the late ‘50s. All of the Shelburne Shopping Park was originally part of Tink's farm."

Fisher never expected that he would someday run a bar and restaurant in that "old shed," which is tucked in the northwest corner of the Shelburne Shopping Park. He had been involved with the operation of the family's trucking company, J.R. Trucking, but seven years ago, at the urging of his sons, Fisher took over the neighborhood tavern then called "Corkscrews." Corkscrews had been previously owned by Alan and Marilyn Twombly.

History
The shed was a laundromat when Harry Clayton bought the farm from Strong in 1966 in order to build and open Shelburne Supermarket. Clayton kept a portion of the structure as the laundromat and leased the rest of the building to Stuart Morrow and Tom Clark. In July of 1976 Morrow and Clark converted their portion of the building into a bar. Clayton recalled, "There was still a laundromat at the front of the building, and we leased the back portion out on a two-year lease. When that expired I told them [Morrow and Clarke] to take the whole damned thing. The water and sewer rates on the laundromat were killing me."

According to Morrow, "we opened it as an option to the bar at the Shelburne Hotel [now the Shelburne Inn]. We named it "Murph's" which was a nickname of mine at the time." Murph's Tavern offered a limited menu of soups and sandwiches.

In 1986 Kevin Greene bought the business and renamed the tavern "Greenies." Greene ran the tavern for two to three years before selling it in 1993 to Gary Provost, who is now the food manager at the Sunset Ball Room in South Burlington. Provost changed the name of the tavern to "Corkscrews," and introduced a more substantial menu offering to his customers. He did not change the basic makeup of the tavern, other than to display a vast collection of corkscrews on the walls. Provost held on to the business until 1996, when he sold it to the Twombly's.

The Fisher reign
Jerry Fisher has a 20-year lease on the property, which is still owned by the Clayton family.
"We've made some changes, and done some remodeling over the past seven years, but we didn't change too much" Fisher said. The tavern hasn't physically changed, but Fisher, along with his son Richard, "Rick," and granddaughter/manager Tiffany Fisher, have introduced, or reintroduced some popular scheduled events that bring in regular customers, well, regularly.
One of the main weeknight draws during the summer months is a horseshoe tournament held every Wednesday evening beginning at 6:30 p.m. Typically 10 to 12 teams compete, weather permitting, in the side yard of the tavern. On Wednesday nights throughout the fall and winter, a dart league consisting of six teams competes.

Another addition to The Old Shed's entertainment menu is live music featuring local bands on Friday nights. According to Tiffany, who is responsible for the selection of the bands, the music ranges from soft acoustic to alternative rock. "One of the favorite groups is ‘Fall Line.' All these members work at Shelburne Farms and they got together to form the band," Tiffany shared. "Depending on the band, who is bartending that night, and what's on the menu, we can have an entirely different crowd from one night to the next."

The Fishers have expanded the tavern's "pub grub" menu. According to Rick Fisher, who oversees the kitchen operation, the special $9.95 prime rib lunch offered on Fridays has a big following, "especially local workers who make a point to show up every Friday for lunch. And we started a Tuesday night Family BBQ Dinner about two months ago: steaks, ribs, and chicken, along with potato and sweet corn for $10.95. People show up with their families, and sometimes we get the sports teams we sponsor stopping by."

Those sports teams run the gamut. From a Frisbee league, to bowling teams, to teams at The Fieldhouse, The Old Shed has long been a supporter of Shelburne sports. The teams often stop in on Monday nights for .25 cent chicken wings."We go through 500 to 600 wings on Mondays," Rick estimated.

Given these special events and promotions, The Old Shed is positioned to continue its appeal to a regular customer base, as well as to bring new faces in to the popular watering hole. And as Jerry Fisher put it, "We have another 14 years or so left on the lease, so we aren't going anywhere!"