Ode To The Joy of a Scoop

When I moved to New England for the first time, the first fact that I learned about my adopted region was that New Englanders will eat ice cream at any time of the year. The region has the highest per capita consumption of ice cream of any region in the U.S. I learned this trivia on a January day, when the temperatures outside were well below freezing, but the company was providing a TGIF treat of ice cream sundaes, compliments of Hood Dairy--and the stampede to the ice cream was just about as dangerous as Rt. 128 during the morning commute.

Back then it was ice cream from Richardson's; now it's ice cream from Brown's. Picked by Ben (of Ben and Jerry's) as the fourth best place in the country to get a scoop, Ben says "this is the quintessential summer ice cream stand on the way to a lighthouse (locals know it as Nubble Lighthouse)." He goes on to say that the view is the draw (and we agree that the view is wonderful--the above was taken from the car on the way to), but we think that's because Ben didn't order the Wild Maine Blueberry in a sugar cone. It's loaded with real Maine blueberries and a kiddy scoop is almost more than we can eat. On a summer night, all eight windows are 10-12 customers deep, but the wait is always short and it's always worth it. I do all I can to make sure New England remains first in ice cream consumption.