The former Ferrisburgh United Methodist Church at 3323 Route 7 is under construction. By the end of 2025, it will become the new, expanded home of Gilfeather’s Fine Provisions.
Rick and Nancy Benson opened Gilfeather’s at its current spot a few buildings away in 2017. With the motto “Great Food to Go,” they’ve built a strong following for gourmet sandwiches, fresh oysters, grab-and-go entrées, house-baked pies, and specialty groceries.
“We are out of space,” Rick said, noting that he has to store ingredients in the shop’s dairy cooler.
The larger location in the Brown Church, as it’s known locally, will triple the shop’s retail offerings, with an increased selection of produce and nonfood items such as local flowers, gifts, and music and art supplies. It will feature an open kitchen similar to the current setup, where the Bensons can be seen wearing white chef coats. The addition of a hood vent, grill and fryers will “basically quintuple our firepower,” Rick said.
With that new equipment, they’ll have the flexibility to add new menu items — or bring back favorites from past businesses. Rick hinted that they might include fried calamari and the veggie fritters he served at Taste, the fine-dining restaurant he operated near the Burlington waterfront in the early 2000s.
The Brown Church was donated to the town of Ferrisburgh after its deconsecration in 2022; town officials put out a call for proposals last spring and approved the sale to the Bensons at a selectboard meeting in November.
An extensive renovation, including foundation work and a new septic system, is under way. The couple will honor the 19th-century church’s history by incorporating its stained-glass windows and other mementos, such as the hymn board from its final service, into the new space, Rick said. He’ll display his own paintings and work by other local artists on the soaring walls.
“It was here for all those years, and now it’s turning into another kind of community venture,” Rick said. “We wanted to keep Gilfeather’s here in town and bring this building back to life.”
This article appears in Feb 19-25, 2025.
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