Eleish Van Breems Home in New Preston

Eleish Van Breems Home is a Scandinavian furniture, antiques and interior design shop at 11 Main Street in New Preston, a village in Washington, Connecticut. The historic building originally served as New Preston’s post office and general store during the early twentieth century, and stands opposite the waterfall in the village centre. For many years, it housed Dawn Hill Antiques, a specialist in Swedish and European antique furniture established by John and Paulette Peden. Following Paulette Peden’s retirement, the premises were taken over by interior designers Rhonda Eleish and Edie Van Breems, who opened their new shop in December 2023. The business, originally founded in Woodbury in 1997, specialises in Scandinavian furniture, decorative antiques and contemporary home furnishings. The building retains its traditional wooden exterior, covered pavement and large shop windows.

Eleish Van Breems Home has appeared in Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981). At the time of filming, the building was a grocery store called Country Grocer, and its exterior was used for one of the early scenes set in the fictional town of Crystal Lake.

In Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981), directed by Steve Miner, the building appears when Jeff Dunsberry (Bill Randolph) and Sandra Dier (Marta Kober) arrive in town on their way to a training programme for summer camp counsellors. After stopping their pickup truck near a petrol station, the couple head towards a telephone booth to contact their friend Ted (Stu Charno). Outside the Country Grocer, the eccentric Crazy Ralph (Walt Gorney), who also appeared in the original Friday the 13th, stands beside his bicycle. The shop’s wooden façade and large Country Grocer lettering are clearly visible behind him as he watches the newcomers and warns them that they are all doomed. Meanwhile, a tow truck begins removing Jeff’s illegally parked vehicle, prompting the couple to chase after it. The scene was filmed in the centre of New Preston in the autumn of 1980, with the surrounding shops and petrol station representing the fictional community near Camp Crystal Lake. Although the grocery store has since undergone changes and several businesses have occupied the premises, its original structure and covered pavement remain recognisable.

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