OUR STORY

Summer on the coast of Maine has always been a special time.

Visits to the seashore.

Clambakes and picnics on the rocks.

Eating ice cream and candy.

It was on July 4, 1885 that Addie Orne first opened the doors of Orne’s Candy Store in downtown Boothbay Harbor on the coast of Maine. The store had been purchased by her husband, Thaddeus W. Orne, a successful insurance salesman with New York Life. On that first day her shop was supplied with ice cream, bananas and a variety of candies.

Over the next 75 years, the woman who became known as Aunt Addie expanded her stock to include many fine quality chocolates and other traditional candies.

In 1960, Wollcott Webster purchased the store, with the promise that he would preserve the atmosphere of an old-fashioned 19th century candy shop.

While doing so, he also made improvements. First he worked with a candy maker in Lewiston, Maine to perfect a recipe for Maine-made fudge that he liked, and that he knew would lure people back to the store again and again. And he succeeded. Orne’s fudge – smooth and creamy – has been the shop’s most popular item for more than 40 years. Then, he added to the shop’s selection of chocolates displayed in the fancy dishes in the antique glass and wooden cases.

In 1978, John and Jean Webster assumed operation of the store. They operated the store with Arthur Webster and Faith Foster.

Today, John is still at the helm, along with Areth and Adam Foster-Webster, Arthur and Faith’s sons. The store still looks very much the way it did in 1885.

Many people who bought penny candy from Aunt Addie or her clerk, Susie Clark, bring their grandchildren or great-grandchildren back to purchase fine chocolates and homemade fudge from one of their favorite places in boothbay harbor.