Our Story

A Country Store Since 1986

The Swiftwater Way Station has been sitting on this same stretch of Wild Ammonoosuc Road since 1986. For decades it's been the place where locals grab their morning coffee, hikers stop in after the trail, and families pull over on their way through the White Mountains. It's always been more than just a store. It's part of the community out here.

In 2021, the Nicolazzo family took over. We grew up on homemade Italian food. Sunday sauce, meatballs, the whole deal. When we got the keys to this place, we didn't want to change what made it special. The country store, the friendly faces, the "stop in and stay awhile" feeling. We just wanted to add our own twist to it. So we brought the Italian recipes we grew up on into the kitchen and started cooking.

Now you can walk in and grab a homemade Italian meatball sub made with Nonna's recipe, a plate of lasagna, or a fresh homemade pizza. We run daily specials too. Steak tips with rice pilaf, stuffed peppers, ribs, eggplant parm, BBQ pulled pork, Stromboli. It changes every day so there's always a reason to stop in. Follow us on Facebook to see what we're making.

The whole family works here. Franco Sr., Franco Jr., Nonna. Everyone has a role and everyone cares about this place like it's their home, because it kind of is. We put everything we have into it. When you walk through that door you're not just a customer, you're walking into our family's living room. We want you to feel that.

So if you're driving through Bath, stop in. Grab a sub, try the gelato, sit on the porch and take it all in. We think you'll get why people keep coming back.

Meet Phil

If you've been to the Way Station even once, you already know Phil. He's our manager and the first person you see when you walk through the door. He knows the regulars by name, remembers what you ordered last time, and he's probably already making your coffee before you ask for it. That's just how he is.

Our customers mention Phil by name in review after review and there's a good reason for that. He genuinely cares about every single person that walks in. It doesn't matter if you're a local who comes in every morning or a tourist passing through for the first time. Phil is going to make you feel like you've been coming here for years. He'll talk to you about the specials, tell you what's good today, and make sure you don't leave hungry.

Phil keeps this place running. He's here early, he stays late, and he treats every customer the way you'd want to be treated. There's a reason people drive out of their way to come to this little country store in Bath, and a big part of that reason is the guy behind the counter.

Phil and our crew are here 7 days a week, 7 AM to 7 PM. Come say hi.

Meet Andrea

Andrea isn't family by blood, but she might as well be. She's been living in this area her whole life and she's one of the people that makes the Way Station feel like home. She knows the regulars, she knows the community, and she brings the kind of warmth to this place that you can't teach somebody. It's just who she is.

She's also an incredible cook. A lot of the food that comes out of our kitchen has Andrea's hands on it and you can taste the difference. She puts the same love and care into every dish that she puts into every conversation with every customer who walks through the door. Friendly, hardworking, and she makes great food. That's Andrea.

When you walk in and Andrea is behind the counter, you're going to feel it right away. She treats everybody like she's known them for years. She'll remember your name, she'll remember what you like, and she'll make sure you leave with a full stomach and a smile. That's the kind of person she is and that's what makes this place different from anywhere else.

Andrea is a huge part of what makes the Way Station more than just a store. She's part of the family, she's part of the community, and we're lucky to have her.

Meet "The Godfather"

If you come in and see a guy sitting in the corner playing his lottery tickets, that's Charles. He started as a regular and somehow became part of the family. Everyone around here calls him The Godfather and once you meet him you'll understand why. He's the unofficial ambassador of the Way Station.

Charles knows every product in the Italian section better than most of us do. He'll tell you what to try, what to cook with it, and he'll probably convince you to buy something you didn't even know you needed. He's one of those people that makes this place feel like more than just a store. Stop in, say hi, and don't be surprised if you end up in a 20 minute conversation. That's just Charles.

Meet Nonna

When people ask what makes our food different, the real answer is Nonna. She's the reason every meatball, every stuffed pepper, and every pot of sauce tastes the way it does. These aren't recipes we found online. These are recipes she's been making for decades, passed down from her family in Italy. She brought them with her and never stopped cooking.

Nonna is in the kitchen at the Way Station making food the same way she always has. By hand, from scratch, no shortcuts. She rolls the meatballs herself. She stuffs the peppers herself. She makes the sauce the way her mother taught her. There's no recipe card on the wall. It's all in her hands and she's been doing it long enough that she doesn't need to measure anything anymore.

That's what sets this place apart from anywhere else you're going to eat out here. You're not getting food made by a line cook following a corporate recipe. You're getting food made by an Italian grandmother who learned to cook standing next to her own grandmother. Every dish that comes out of our kitchen has that in it. You can taste it.

Nonna is the heart of the Way Station. When you take a bite of our lasagna or our meatball sub and you think "this tastes like someone's grandma made it," that's because she did.

Meet the Owners

For years, Franco Nicolazzo Sr. brought his kids camping up in the White Mountains. They'd come back every summer and every time they fell a little more in love with the area. The peace, the quiet, the friendliness of the people out here. When he found the Way Station, a log cabin country store sitting on the Wild Ammonoosuc River, he saw something that brought together everything he cared about. Family, homemade Italian food, and a community that felt like home. In 2021, the Nicolazzo family made the move and never looked back.

Franco Sr. is the one who keeps the big picture moving. The store, the cabins next door, the daily operations, the vision for what this place can be. He grew up around food, around family, and around hard work. That's what he brings to the Way Station every single day. If something needs to get done, he's doing it. If something needs to get built, he's building it. He built four brand new cabins on the river next door from the ground up. He doesn't sit back and manage from a distance. He's here, and today his customers, community, and friends at the Way Station feel like family too.

Franco Jr. grew up watching his dad work and picked up the same mentality. He handles the marketing, the social media, the online presence, and a lot of the day-to-day alongside his father. He's the one making sure people know about this place. Between managing the cabin rentals, running the store's Instagram and Facebook, and helping behind the counter, he's wearing about ten hats at any given time. That's just how it works when it's a family business.

Together they've turned the Way Station into something special. They brought Nonna's recipes into the kitchen, built the cabins, won back-to-back Best Country Store awards from WMUR, and kept the doors open 7 days a week. Everything you see when you walk into this place is the result of a family that fell in love with a small town in New Hampshire and went all in. And they're just getting started.

What Makes Us Different

Come See Us

533 Wild Ammonoosuc Road, Bath, NH 03740

Open 7 Days a Week, 7 AM to 7 PM

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