The Wooden Soldier (Fair Haven, Vermont)

The Wooden Soldier

We recently had to do a short day trip over to the Adirondacks in New York, and that left us looking for a new place for breakfast on the drive over. We’ve had a lot of great little spots on this drive, like Sugar and Spice and Big Apple Diner, but on this particular trip our timing lead us to wanting to explore Fair Haven and Castleton a bit. We ended up going to downtown Fair Haven, where we found The Wooden Soldier.

The Wooden Soldier Interior

The Wooden Soldier is located at the end of the main commercial block in Fair Haven. Fair Haven itself is quite interesting, with much of town dating back to the town’s heyday as a center for slate quarrying, with a large central square surrounded by Victorian homes, and the large commercial block that forms most of the downtown of Fair Haven. An L-shaped row of three- and four-story commercial blocks, this makes one of the more developed and compact small-town business districts in Northern New England, and at the south end of the row is The Wooden Soldier. The Wooden Soldier has been in operation since 1950 when it was a soda counter for the Roberts Bros Hardware store, becoming the Wooden Soldier in 1965 (with the same owner since 1976). The first thing you realize walking in the door is that The Wooden Soldier still looks like a diner and family restaurant that’s been running since 1950: a few wooden booths, a long service counter that’s seen a lot of use over the decades, and hand-painted signs throughout (including a nice sign detailing the top tourist attractions of 1950s and 1960s Vermont). This place is seriously old school in character (it reminds me of the now-shuttered Polka Dot Diner in White River Junction), and you can tell that it’s got its own set of clients that similarly have been coming here for decades.

Irish Benedict

Sitting down at the worn wood counter, the owner quickly came over and got us set up with cups of fresh coffee and hand-lettered specials signs for the weekend specials. The menu at The Wooden Soldier isn’t particularly extensive, but covers the basic American Diner fare quite well, including pancakes, omelettes, Benedicts, and even a few old school items that you don’t see much any more like creamed chipped beef on toast. While I almost got the chipped beef, I went for my “usual” these days, an Irish Benedict. This was a very nicely done Benedict: proper house-made corned beef with nice large chunks of potato and corned beef (one of the better I’ve had) with a perfect sear, a good Hollandaise on the tangy end, and perfectly poached eggs. A great Benedict, and some nicely-done, double-cooked home fries alongside. A nice overall breakfast, and a great way to break up the drive.

The obligatory wooden soldier.

I loved The Wooden Soldier. It’s the sort of place where you can practically taste the history, and it’s not just ambiance that’s driving the place: the food was good, the service very friendly, and the other clientele friendly and welcoming. It’s definitely worth a stop for breakfast or lunch if you are in the area.