Our History

What do Sylvester’s Restaurant, homemade bread, and the City of Northampton have in common?
The Graham Cracker

Massachusetts, 1800…

Diet guru and leader of the Temperance Movement, Dr. Sylvester Graham, is beginning to establish notoriety through his modern and rambunctious personality.
By performing outlandish sermons, advocating for a vegetarian diet, bathing in cold water, and demanding his followers chose homemade food over commercially processed products, Dr. Graham established a group of followers, known as the “Grahamites”. Their goal was to develop an alternative whole wheat grain.
Ultimately, their creation was not quite a cookie and too sweet to be a cracker…the Graham Cracker.

Northampton, 1983…

In October of 1983, Peter St. Martin and Maureen McGuinness opened Sylvester’s in the very home of Sylvester Graham. Honoring the rich history of Northampton, The Sylvester Graham Building, and Sylvester Graham himself, the new owners embraced his healthy food philosophy as the foundation of their creative cuisine and menus.
From Day One, Sylvester’s created everything from scratch, including homemade breads and pastries. Two days after opening, a waiting line formed at the door and Sylvester’s has been busy ever since.

Our Food Philosophy

Homemade whenever possible and practical
Our philosophy is that the best tasting food is the food made from scratch, without the use of preservatives or additives, using the freshest ingredients we can buy.
Our pancake batters are made fresh daily using locally sourced milk from Mapleline Farm in Hadley and fresh organic eggs from the Country Hen in Hubbardston. Salad dressings are all made daily in our kitchen, without preservatives. Our corned beef hash is boiled and prepared fresh every morning.
We make every effort to provide you the finest, freshest ingredients, because we know you can taste the difference.

Sylvester’s Bakery

Originally, due to limited kitchen space, we baked two types of bread, a home-style white and a whole wheat (a la Sylvester Graham).

As our kitchen expanded, we added more selections, which we now have available every day:
Rustic
White
Whole Wheat
Oatmeal Sunflower Seed
Caraway Rye
Cinnamon Raisin
Multigrain
Banana
Corn Breads

Additionally we create a variety of muffins, cookies, and pastries. These are made fresh daily and are available in the café.

Committed to Sustained Agriculture

Sylvester’s belongs to CISA, Community Involved in Sustained Agriculture and Pioneer Valley Local First. We are proud to be working with Alternative Recycling Streams to reduce waste by composting and recycling.

The Best Local Ingredients

We buy local whenever practical and possible

We do our best to support other local businesses and give back to the community.
Our milk comes from Mapleline Farm in Hadley
Our maple syrup is from trees right up the road at Snowshoe Farm in Worthington
Eggs come from The Country Hen in Hubbardston
Our hamburger is from Roaming Farm in South Deerfield
Yogurt is from Sidehill Farm in Ashfield
All of our apples, peaches and pears come from Bashista’s Orchards in Southampton
Our goat cheese is from Thomas’ Farm in Sunderland