Family owned and operated, Martha’s Dandee Creme in Queensbury NY was built on the site of a former chicken farm. Can you tell?
It’s a sweet story that this landmark for over 50 years on route 9 just south of Lake George NY is once again being run by the Lafontaine family, who bought the original business from Martha in 1982, but sold it for a short bit to the Great Adventure folks up the street. Happily Dennis Lafontaine and his wife, Beth bought back the business from their big neighbors and re-opened Martha’s in 2009.
Currently they just serve ice cream, but oh, what ice cream! Soft serve in more flavors than your standard van/choc/twist, and I was thrilled to see that they had the hard to find butterscotch dip!
OK so it looks a bit orange in this photo, but that’s what you get when you’re trying to take a photo with one hand, of a melting ice cream cone in another! The ice cream was rich, smooth and sweet and I was sorely tempted to head back there for a second cone before we left our all too short stop in the Lake George area. I did make sure Retro Roadhusband and I swung back in the evening so we could see the landmark sign all lit up.
Become a fan of Martha’s on Facebook, or follow Martha’s on Twitter and by all means look for the giant roadside rooster the next time you’re in that neck of the woods, as it means delish ice cream awaits!
Martha’s Dandee Creme
1133 State Route 9
Queensbury, NY 12804-1376
(518) 793-0372
View NY – New York State Retro RoadMAP in a larger map
Helium Design
You’re going to add more fuel to FuzzyGalore’s fire! LOL
Martha’s sign is not totally original. When the LaFontaines took back the business, they also revamped the sign.
Here’s a look at the original (from the very well-traveled Agilitynut):
http://www.agilitynut.com/p/marthas1.jpg
Usually, I’m a “Keep it original, no matter what” person. But this sign rework is very well done, and removing the words “MOTEL BREAKFAST RESTAURANT” makes sense because they are no longer offered.
Glenn – Good to note! I saw a version of their previous sign on their Facebook page as well:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Queensbury-NY/Marthas-Dandee-Creme/258034231897#!/photo.php?pid=1805161&op=1&o=global&view=global&subj=258034231897&id=533842472&ref=pf
All hail the fiberglass rooster!
Even though it may not be the original, I love that sign. Great sign, fiberglass animal, great ice cream – roadside trifecta.
LG is a treasure trove – looking forward to seeing what else you have up your sleeve
Fuzzy G, Lake G was so very cool that I really am having a hard time putting words around what we saw. So neat! we were there before the season so actually most things were closed, but that made for a very quiet place and we very much enjoyed having it to ourselves. Thought you might like the Roadside Rooster! Roadside trifecta indeed!