Matches Fashion Stores

Matches Fashion Stores

Matches Fashion Stores

In 1806, a destitute English immigrant and her son stepped ashore in the New World at Salem, Mass., wearing only the clothes on their backs after their ship was lost at sea. She had had some experience as a baker, so helpful neighbors gave Mary Spencer a pound of sugar, cream of tartar and some lemon oil to help her on her feet. With the donated ingrediets, Mrs. Spencer whipped up a batch of candy she called Gibralters and sold them from the church steps.

Gibralters, spelled as Mrs. Spencer did and made exactly as she did, remain the most popular candy sold by the Ye Olde Pepper Candy Companie of Salem, the United States' first candy company. No one knows why Mrs. Spencer called them Gibralters or spelled it as she did. Perhaps she sailed past the Rock of Girbraltar and was so impressed that she named her rock candy after without knowing the proper spelling.