At the start of the year, I had a realization: I could go to the birthplace of the chocolate chip cookie and eat a chocolate chip cookie. By that, I mean I could go to a certain parking lot in Whitman, a small town south of Boston, and eat a chocolate chip cookie I bought next door. You see, Ruth Graves Wakefield invented the chocolate cookie in the 1930s at the Toll House restaurant — hence the term “Toll House cookie.
” But if you go there now, all you’ll find is a parking lot between a Walgreens and a Wendy’s, which is where I got my cookie. Ruth Graves Wakefield, as pictured in her college yearbook during her time at Framingham State University (then called the Normal School) (Courtesy, Framingham State University Archives, 1924 Dial Yearbook – Graduation photo of Ruth Graves) In that parking lot, there’s an old sign board and a plaque explaining the history of the Toll House, including that it was built in 1706 and burned down in 1984. That’s cool.
But wait a minute. Why does the town website say it was built in 1817 ? That was weird. But I was sure some quick internet searches would clear that up.
They did not. Instead, I spent the next few months going down various rabbit holes, sifting through cookie legends and sorting out the sometimes bizarre history of the Toll House. Eventually, I found myself looking through decades-old documents in town halls and libraries.
Above all else, I just wanted to satisfy my curiosity. In the end, I wound up with a treas.