There's a good reason why this statue is so little known.
Remember that old travel magazine I found?
In it was a two-page spread titled “America’s Little Known Statues” by Frank L. Remington. Among the statues highlighted is this donutty monument, with the caption:
“In Camden, Maine stands a monument to Henry Brewster who invented the hole in the doughnut after he heard his mother remark that the centers never baked through—thus setting a style for America.”
Wow. A statue honoring donuts? How had I missed this in all those summers in Maine? I had to know more, perhaps plan a pilgrimage. I contacted the Camden chamber of commerce to learn if the statue still stands. They connected me with the Walsh History Center at the Camden library where archivist Heather Bilodeau got on the case. And the plot thickened.
Sadly, Camden has no donut statue. “According to local legend, Captain Hanson Crockett Gregory of Glen Cove, Maine was the inventor of the donut hole in 1847, and there is a plaque on Gregory’s homestead that tells the story,” Heather wrote to me. “One of my favorite locals (sadly now deceased) was Captain Gregory’s direct descendant, by the name of Fred Crockett. He compiled no less than 13 volumes of information on the donut story, and actually debated esteemed Hyannis attorney Henry Ellis at the 1940 World’s Fair at the Hotel Astor in New York City to defend Captain Gregory’s honor as the ‘true inventor’ of the donut hole.”
Interesting. But then, what of the photo? I sent it to Heather and she dug even deeper…
“I just came across an article in the Boston Herald, Oct 26, 1941, titled “Crisis Near in Battle of the Doughnut-Hole!” she soon responded. “ Victor Kahill, a sculptor from Portland, Maine, created the clay model pictured. The plan was to erect a bronze statue of Captain Gregory on top of Mt. Battie here in Camden. Much was made of the plans for this event, attracting the attention of attorney Henry Ellis. He claimed that his grandmother Sally Grenough, who was part Indian, told him the ‘true’ story that an Indian had shot an arrow through a frycake to scare the woman cooking it. Apparently Victor Kahill, seeing his chance of casting Captain Gregory go up in smoke, contacted Henry Ellis for an image of the Indian so he could revise the statue. Ellis replied rather tartly, ‘I can only show you where he is buried. Indians not interested in sculpting, only scalping.’” (With apologies to my Native American readers…)
So, there we have it, friends: The kind of important information you will learn ONLY here, on Flyover America.
And what do we learn from this?
- The invention of the donut hole is hotly contested.
- It is possible to write 13 volumes on pretty much anything.
- Travel writers can’t be trusted
Many thanks to Heather Bilodeau.
This is the kind of trivia I live for!
Your takeaways are right on the money too. You darn travel writers and your fake statues…
We tend to hallucinate.
Usually about donuts. Or pie. Pie is good, too.
The world is less of a place without a statue honoring donuts and their inventors (contested or not)!! I would go to Camden just to see this alone!
Nice bit of history – Thanks!!!
Burl Ives was right: “Watch the doughnut, not the hole.”
Are there any statues of Burl Ives? There should be.
Sophie — I’m so glad you dug up the hole truth. Misinformation just fries me up.
I can’t sugar-coat it: We don’t know the truth. We may never. But I do think we should start a campaign to erect a donut statue in Camden.
And, just like that, a cause is born. (Could be kind of funny.)