City: Old Saybrook, CT

Category: Restaurants

Telephone: (860) 395-1229

Address: 325 Main St.

Description: Now part of Tissa’s Le Souk du Maroc, this is surely one of the most unusual shops in Middlesex County. The building was once the Humphrey Pratt Tavern and appears on the National Register of Historic Places. The Marquis de Lafayette made a purchase here on his way to Boston in 1824, and Katharine Hepburn used to use the phone in the old oak booth after it became the pharmacy. Anna Louise James, the first African-American woman to graduate from the Brooklyn College of Pharmacy, ran it as a pharmacy and soda fountain from 1917 to 1967. Today you can still buy ice cream here, as well as wonderful North African treats and wraps. The store sells lentils, preserved lemons, tea, and Turkish delight, while still preserving the ancient floorboards, low ceiling, and charm of yesteryear. This wonderful blend of East and West, past and present, bodes well for the future of a changing America.