Truth be told, I had invented the story of Newburyport’s Alden Merrell cheesecake based solely on the name. Merrell (in its several forms) is an old Newbury name, I mused. Maybe this is the story of an ancient local bakery/candy store/grocer that hit the big time. After all, Alden Merrell is the sweet treat of my youth, and we were an insular bunch. Alden Merrell, which means only the cheesecake in my family, though they made a good carrot and chocolate cake too, was the ultimate splurge for a family that pinched every penny and made some darn good cakes of our own. But that glistening disc of creamy cheesecake, four different fruit toppings inviting four separate teeny slivers of cool pleasure…ah, heaven. As we pondered a Valentine’s Day (week) story for this newsletter, I thought of the archives I would raid, the genealogies of Merrell families spread out on my desk.

Cue the sound of tires screeching. The story of Alden Merrell is a thoroughly 20th century story, one that begins with a visit to a friend, and a misunderstanding. Preston Reed was living in Boston in the early 1970s, and he decided to cook and camp his way across Europe, gathering recipes for a restaurant he wanted to start when he returned home. He returned to the states and worked for a while at Boston’s Maison Robert. While visiting a friend in Newburyport, he met the owner of 10 Center Street restaurant (most recently Brick and Ash), Martin Staab, who was looking for a replacement for his chef. Martin offered him the job, thinking that he lived in Newburyport, and the rest is history. Reed took the job, moved to Newburyport, and stayed at 10 Center Street before trying his hand at teaching culinary arts at Whittier Vocational Technical School. It was here that he first decided to produce cheesecake for the restaurant industry. Once that idea gained some traction, he bought out his original partner, Joe Pignato, and moved his operation to Plum Island, renting out the building at 8 Plum Island Blvd (now the Plum Island Taxpayers Association).

In 1974, Reed opened the building as a clam shack, also selling fried dough and other beach food. He also used the space to produce cheesecake. He remembers that his business was frequently damaged, as teenagers loved to spin their cars in the sandy lot in front of the building and would lose control and crash. “It was a wild time”, he says of the 70s on Plum Island. “Newburyport was different – artists were living and working in some of the older buildings. It was kind of run down but also had a vibrancy to it.”

During the clam shack years, Reed met Skip Stearns, who was up from Washington D.C. and interested in new opportunities. Stearns started selling the cheesecake to restaurants and made a valuable contribution to the business – his family’s closely guarded recipe for carrot cake. They also added a chocolate cake after his friend Patty gave him a recipe and asked him to make her a wedding cake. “I was never a baker,” he says, ironic from a man whose life’s work will forever be identified with cake.

Baker or not, Reed’s cakes were delicious, and sales grew steadily. In 1978, the company moved to the site of the former Giant Value Grocery Store at 155 State Street. By 1980, their cakes could be found in restaurants all the way to Florida, and they had added retail space in their Newburyport production facility and opened another store in Salem. For a while, they sold cheesecake pops from a cart downtown!

Though the company’s legal name had always been Alden Merrell, they operated as The Cheesecake Company. In 1987, they adopted their legal name as their brand when they built a state-of-the-art wholesale and retail facility in the new industrial park. Business continued to grow, thanks in part to an exclusive arrangement with Artie Demoulas of the Market Basket grocery stores. Capitalizing on their presence in restaurants in Florida, they opened a large store in Boca Raton, and then added eleven more Florida locations. In hindsight, Reed says, “We were really a wholesale company,” and the company was pulled in too many directions.

In 2000, when food giant HJ Heinz came courting, Reed was relieved. “I would wake up in the early morning in the middle of a snowstorm and lie in bed and wonder if my ovens were working or if my trucks were delivering, and I would worry about our 200+ employees, and I just thought how nice it would be to roll over and go back to sleep.” Alden Merrell was sold to Heinz, and after staying on with the company through the transition, Reed and Skip retired. After several years in New Hampshire, in 2015, Reed moved to Santa Fe, in large part because of another lifelong passion – opera. Newburyport, for all its charms, is not much of an opera town.

Alden Merrell was owned by Heinz until 2012, when it was sold to Superior Capital Partners and merged with Dianne's Gourmet Desserts of Le Center, Minn. The new company was renamed Dianne’s Fine Desserts, but the products continued to be sold under the name that made them famous all those years ago. And that name? Alden is Preston Reed’s middle name, while Merrell is Skip Stearns’ middle name. No grand Newbury family here, though fifty years in town is enough to almost make you a local.

As for Preston Reed, happily meeting opera singers and conductors in Santa Fe, he has a little nostalgia for his old friends in Newburyport but has moved on from the town where he made his livelihood for all those years. “My wife misses the water,” he says, “but I can see for miles out here.”

...a guest blog by Kristen Fehlhaber 

While looking for photos for our weekly “Sepia Sunday” Facebook posts in the Snow Collection, the museum’s online photo collection hosted by the Digital Commonwealth., I came across this horse and wagon. The name, Climax Chocolates, got a giggle around here, though, of course, we all know that words are flexible. This certainly had a different implication in 1890, when this picture was taken, than it does today. Curious about the company, I learned that Peerless Wafers and Climax Chocolates were part of a late 19^th century Boston candy manufacturer Fobes, Hayward, & Co.

Later than I’d want to admit, I noticed a name on the side of the wagon. Edwin Lunt.

Researching the past has never been easier, particularly as the town newspapers are available online. Newburyport, with its rich characters and its rigorous record-keepers, never disappoints.

Born July 5, 1853, Edwin was the only child of Paul Lunt Jr. and Sarah L. Dodge. His father was a shoemaker, as were many Lunts, and Edwin would follow in that trade. The city directories are my go-to source for researching people – not only are addresses listed, but occupations, work locations, and other information.

The listing for Edwin in 1877 shows him to be a shoemaker, boarding at a house on High Street. But only five years later in 1882, he’s listed as shoe manufacturer, with the shop on Forrester St. (his widowed mother’s house, it turns out) and his home on North Atkinson Street.

A search online (at Ancestry.com – paid, or free at the library) surprised me with a record of a patent he filed for in 1885, having to do with a new process for manufacturing felt insoles for shoes.

Did he sell the patent and get to follow his dream? I don’t know, but Edwin turns over a new leaf and in 1889, he is listed as a confectioner, still working out of the Forrester St. shop. He starts by making his own candies, but over the course of ten years, he becomes a dealer. This is where the photo that first brought him to light enters the scene.

In 1901, the company making Peerless Wafers and Climax Chocolates merged with two others to become the New England Confection Company, also known as NECCO.

Ready for a change, the 1902 directory shows that Edwin moved into “investments.”  The 1910 census specifies that he was involved with silver mining. And according to his obituary, there one was one final chapter – insurance. But it would seem that he was best remembered for his time in the candy business.

An aside – by chance, Edwin Lunt and Preston Reed of The Cheesecake Company in the story above, sold their sweet treats from wagons on the same Newburyport streets, one century apart.

Thursday, February 17, 2022, 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM (Online). Register here.

Thursday, February 24, 2022, 7:00 PM (Online). Register here.

Join us to learn about the newly launched Newburyport Black History Initiative, a collaborative project that aims to highlight and incorporate Newburyport’s Black history more fully into the public landscape through historic interpretive signs, lectures, panel discussions and workshops, and other activities. Prof. Kabria Baumgartner, Cyd Raschke, and Geordie Vining will describe the project's mission and key goals, upcoming plans, and how community members can get involved.

Are you passionate about local history? And comfortable speaking to small groups? We are looking for additional docents to give tours at the museum once the doors open in May. We'll be meeting in late February and in the coming months. Please contact the office to find out more - call Kristen at 978-462-2681 or email kristen@newburyhistory.org.

Recipe and photo found on Reddit from what appears to be an original recipe from Newburyport's Cheesecake Company. Please let us know if you try it!

Cracker Box, John Pearson and Son,

Newburyport, Massachusetts

c. 1915

Gift of Scott Nason, Museum of Old Newbury collections

Joseph Pearson opened a bakery in Newburyport in 1792. Several generations of the family were involved in the production of hardtack, crackers, biscuits, and breads. The company had several mergers over the years and by 1896 it was renamed the National Biscuit Company. Their Pilot Bread was well loved throughout New England. Today, we know the company as Nabisco. Click on the image above to begin the puzzle.

During this difficult period of COVID-19, we rely on your support more than ever. We continue to develop new, online programs for you to enjoy and keep us connected and look forward to in-person events as protocols for safety loosen. We hope, if you are able, that you will consider a donation to the museum. Thank you for your continued support.