It was at Buzby's, McPhee says, that he met many of the misunderstood Pineys, the dwindling group of locals who live off that land. They would sit on "an oak plank" atop a radiator near the door and spin colorful tales.
McPhee was a good listener, and soon he was invited to "go off with them to watch what they do," he said, and "to see their world."
The two-story clapboard building, at the dusty crossroads of Routes 532 and 563, opened in 1865 and for years was the only place around where the Pineys could buy bacon, milk, dungarees, 12-gauge shotgun shells, penny candy, and gasoline.
Now it is a Pinelands resource center, where tourists can choose from hundreds of books that describe a place that harbors endangered rattlesnakes and that sits atop a pristine aquifer. The water reserve was a big reason that officials in the late 1970s decided to protect the Pinelands.
The center, open Thursdays through Sundays, also sells homemade crafts, paintings, jams, and honey.
"I get a lot of interest in the property, but the economic climate is tough," said Cathy Antener, the real estate agent who listed the property this month and promoted it on her Pineypower.com website. "I hope the right people buy it, and it stays the way it is."
Robyn Bednar, who runs a hot-dog stand that's practically across the street, echoed the worry: "Hopefully, someone will buy it and make it a general store. The town needs it."
But the retirement plans of Buzby's owner leave the store's fate uncertain.
Marilyn Schmidt, 82, who lives above the store, rescued the building in 1998 from severe neglect.
An author and publisher of cookbooks who moved from Barnegat Light, N.J., she purchased the store by paying the former owner's delinquent taxes and foreclosing. It had been vacant about seven years.
