Since opening as a creamery in 1950, Seneca Farms has made homemade ice cream and served hand-prepared American fare near Keuka Lake. Purchased by Joseph Trombley in 1976, the seasonal Penn Yan institution still uses recipes from his family, hand-breads fresh chicken daily and hand-stirs ingredients into more than 50 ice cream flavors. Its original 1950 building and drive-thru survived a 2005 kitchen fire, while the rebuilt operation continues a Finger Lakes tradition of fried chicken, corn fritters and homemade desserts.
Hall's Ice CreamFounded in 1947 when John Allen Hall made ice cream for his wedding, Hall’s Ice Cream still produces its original-recipe ice cream and sherbet beside the family farm in Millerstown, Pennsylvania. One of Central Pennsylvania’s last remaining family ice cream businesses, Hall’s makes its products in small 10-gallon batches and serves them in an old-fashioned parlor as well as through stores and restaurants across the region. The recipes and process have remained essentially unchanged since the company began.MILLERSTOWN, PA
Valley Dairy RestaurantsValley Dairy Restaurants operates a Pennsylvania restaurant chain and makes its own premium ice cream, a tradition that began with the first Valley Dairy Restaurant in 1938. Its ice-cream heritage goes back to Joseph A. Greubel, who began commercial production in Derry in 1884; Fairview Dairy in Windber, purchased in 1946, remains the home of Valley Dairy ice cream. The company says its ice cream is made with fresh ingredients and is sold through its restaurants and select distributors.LATROBE, PA
Hoffman’s Home Made Ice CreamSince 1947, family-owned Hoffman’s Home Made Ice Cream has been making hand-dipped ice cream in Westminster, Maryland, along with its own ice cream cakes. A Carroll County landmark, the shop still uses its longstanding recipes and makes more than 50 flavors throughout the year. Its deli and convenience store add made-to-order sandwiches and everyday provisions to the old-fashioned ice cream counter.WESTMINSTER, MD
Woodside Farm CreamerySince the Mitchell family established Woodside Farm in 1796, it has remained a family-owned agricultural operation; today, Woodside Farm Creamery makes fresh homemade ice cream on the farm using milk from its herd of more than 30 Jersey cows. The farm resumed dairying in 1995 and opened the Creamery in 1998, while continuing to sell farm-fresh eggs and other farm products. Delaware recognized the Mitchell family’s 200th year of family-owned farming in 1996 as part of the state’s Centennial Farm heritage.WILLOW STREET, PA