OURHAMLET.ORG

Why yes, yes I do remember them little cups of goodness and the little wooden spoon.

Absolutely, I remember Buttercup Ice Cream. Even wrote a story on that old Hamlet site a few years back about my experience working as helper on an ice cream truck in the 50s. Fond memories.
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Lynn Steen
HHS Class of '60

I remember going there on field trips with school and in the summer we would get together in our neighborhood, collect up some soda bottles and sale them back to the A&P, then ride our bikes to the Ice Cream plant and buy a bag of broken cookies used for ice cream sandwiches, go back to the neighborhood, sit on the curb and eat them.....those were the good 'ole days!

My dad sure had fun memories of working there as a teen. He and a friend were horsing around...running throughout the plant, throwing ice down each others backs etc. His friend disappeared through a door and my dad got a huge fist full of ice and waited behind the closed door for him. Soon as the door opened, my dad hit him square in the face with the ice. Only thing, it wasn't his friend. It was Mr. Corning, owner of the plant!

Hey, I remember Buttercup well. Had some kinfolk who worked there in the late 40s and into the 50s.

I remember seeing a Buttercup sign several years ago, a lighted plastic one about 3 feet in length. It was hanging at an abandoned gas station on route 38, smack dab in the middle of Blenheim, a few miles south of Bennettsville. My first thought was how much I'd like to have it hanging in my outbuilding but my mom had taught not to steal so I passed it up. Don't know if it is still there but I saw it many times while passing through.

But after seeing how much the fellows on American Pickers pay for such things, I often wondered if it would have been worth the risk to take it. (Just kidding here.)

I went to work for Mello Buttercup Ice Cream [Coastal Dairy Products, Inc., Wilson, N.C.] in Jan. 1976 as a route salesman for 10 years.
They closed the plant in Hamlet not too long after I went to work for them and they shipped the Ice Cream to us from the wilson.
1st photo is of a patch from one of my uniform shirts.
2nd photo is of a receipt for my part on uniforms and a 3.00 payment deducted from my check.
3rd photo is of one of my check stubs we were paid every two weeks the same amount and received the bal. in Jan. for our sales the past year.

The last time I saw a Mello Buttercup Ice Cream truck was a couple of years ago at the pantry in Hamlet, I went inside to talk with the route salesman and was supprise to see he was selling Maola Ice Cream, he told me that Mello Buttercup Ice Cream [Coastal Dairy Products, Inc.]
had sold out to Maola Milk & Ice Cream Company in New Bern, N.C. and they had not painted all the trucks yet.

sigmore Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2011 1:59 pm Post subject:

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Why yes, yes I do remember them little cups of goodness and the little wooden spoon.

DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN THEY HAD PICTURES OF COWBOYS ON THE INSIDE OF THE LID?

You got me on that one Bill. I always looked in the cup though, not under the lid. LOL

I have wonderful memories of Buttercup Ice Cream. My Dad, Frank Warlick, worked there from 1945 until 1975. He was at first assistant, then plant manager until he retired. I remember going with him after hours, and on Sundays when he would check on the plant, sometimes he fixed an ammonia leak, repaired a machine and always tested the temperature of the freezer. I loved pretending I worked in the lab where the ice cream was tested for purity. It was a thrill to climb those hugh stacks of sugar and powdered milk stored in the warehouse. Also riding the carts, used to move product, down those long aisles. Dad would sometimes let us run in and quickly out of the hardening room (freezer) but we had to wear shoes. I remember the echo in the mixing room along with the wonderment of the novelty machine, used to make popsicles, drumsticks, fudgesicles, creamsicles and other favorites. He would make us special ice cream cakes for our birthday. The frosting was pure sweetened cream. When school children came on field trips, he loved showing off "his" plant. My dad's hard work and dedication helped make Buttercup the best tasting ice cream in the world, in my opinion anyway.

What I remember most was seeing Buttercup signs when we'd drive places and my father reminding me that the only place in the world it was made was Hamlet, N.C.

They had a very good ice cream sandwich!!!

I saw a Mello Buttercup ice cream truck somewhere a couple of weeks ago. The sign on the door said Mello Buttercup New Bern N. C. Steve Rabb has a original Buttercup Ice Cream sign hanging in his ice cream shop on on Main St. I loaned it to him for a display.

MWJ,
My wife Cheryle worked with your Dad, she was office manager of Buttercup from 1966 till 1976.

As kids , on occasion we would ride our bikes to the plant and purchase a "chunk" of dry ice which we would hurredly get home to experiment with..it was almost unlimited what we could do with that amazing stuff , watch it boil colored water , make a spoon sing and burn your tongue if one was stupid enough to try tasting it...ouch!