Spotlight on Sponsors: Wellington’s Herbs and Spices

Think­ing about what she and her hus­band have accom­plished over the years, and flash­ing a huge smile, Car­olyn said, ​“I love all this, this is my heaven!”

When Car­olyn and Fred­er­ick Welling­ton met, they were both work­ing in Albany, she at Blue Cross/​Blue Shield, and he at the New York State Edu­ca­tion Depart­ment. Both were about to retire. Fred invit­ed Car­olyn to his prop­er­ty, nes­tled in the pic­turesque rolling hills of the Schoharie Val­ley region. He had already begun build­ing a home on the wood­ed acreage. They mar­ried in 1992, cleared land, and built tiers of raised beds to grow and har­vest a vari­ety of herbs. In 1995, they opened Welling­ton Herbs and Spices. 

Improve­ments were soon to fol­low — adding a tea room to host Vic­to­ri­an Teas for small groups, for exam­ple. Car­olyn for­mu­lat­ed her famous Island Iced Tea, the recipe a close-held secret! They added a pond and a barn fea­tur­ing a gallery of art work and sculp­ture. Soap mak­ing class­es were offered. They start­ed a Caribbean Fes­ti­val to high­light their own Caribbean her­itage. Infor­mal walks through the gar­dens, dur­ing which guests were giv­en infor­ma­tion about the culi­nary and med­i­c­i­nal ben­e­fits of the herbs and oth­er plants, proved popular.

The COVID pan­dem­ic in 2020 severe­ly impact­ed their shop. Fred­er­ick and Car­olyn decid­ed to tem­porar­i­ly close the shop and tea room, rebrand­ing their com­pa­ny for the whole­sale and online mar­kets. They now deliv­er to Bar­ber Farms in Schoharie, in addi­tion to the Niskayu­na Co-op, Sch­enec­tady Trad­ing Com­pa­ny, and Cap­i­tal Roots in Troy. Local orders are curb­side pick-up only. 

Infor­ma­tion is avail­able on the Wellington’s web­site, www​.welling​ton​sherb​sand​spices​.com. Wellington’s is locat­ed at 649 Rick­hard Hill Road, Schoharie.

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