SoRo’s Chelsea Station Restaurant
Brings Back The ‘Good Old Days’
By Caleb Byerly

With people rushing to work while chatting on their cell phones, or trying to keep up with the rising cost of fuel, we are often left longing for a taste of the "good old days."

That’s exactly what Glen and Kristen Strong sought to provide when they purchased the 108 Chelsea Station Restaurant nearly 17 years ago. A local diner serving homemade food for nearly two decades, The Chelsea Station (as it’s known in SoRo) has given customers a relaxing atmosphere and a peek into those good old days.

"We both decided we just wanted to do it," Glen Strong said. "We wanted to provide good food at a fair price, the way it should be."

The booths are lined with antique trinkets and portraits from the early 1900s, when the Chelsea Station used to be a bar and grill. Oldies music drifts from the kitchen, pulls the customers away from the chaotic worries of a technologically surging world and allows them to simply enjoy the food and the serene rural landscape. Customers are welcomed with the appetizing smell of coffee brewing and the sound of bacon sizzling on the grill.

In the back of the restaurant, the entrance to the Royalton Thrift Store allows customers to browse through a full range of items while they wait for their meals. Strong feels that it helps bring the local community together, as business in one store usually leads to business in the other. The Chelsea Station also finds ways of giving back to the community through donations to local clubs and charities.

A former student at the Vermont Law School, Patricia Ochman, finds the Chelsea Station a welcome respite from the stress of the world. Ochman, who now lives in Montreal, occasionally returns to South Royalton and makes a point to have breakfast there.

"They have the best omelets ever!" Ochman said. "I really like the pictures of what South Royalton looked like a long time ago. It really brings the past and present together."

"We make a lot of friends that come and go," Strong said. "We know just about everyone in town."

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