George "Bud" E. Travis Jr. opened his summer food, beverage, and ice cream stand, named Bud's Corner, in 1940. Situated across the street from the Cemetery on the Plain, the stand served summer vacationers and townsfolk alike. Those spending a summer day at one of the beaches of Cobbett's Pond, could take a short walk to the south end of the pond, where Travis sold summer staples such as fried clams and ice cream. Everything on the menu was made fresh, ingredients being procured locally. The clams were often purchased from Joseph G. Coppola who operated out of Seabrook; the cost of the clams in 1948 was just $5.25 per gallon. Five different flavors of ice cream: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, maple, and butter pecan, were offered for sale at the stand in 1940. The ice cream, which was purchased from Harry B. Call, cost $2.75 per two and a half gallons. Call also supplied the pies that were served at the stand in the early 1940s. The Salem Coca Cola bottling company supplied the majority of the bottled soda, one of the stand's top selling refreshments. In 1940 a case of bottled Coca Cola cost $0.80; this price rose only about fifty cents by the early 1960s. Other brands of soda were served, including Frostie Old Fashion root beer, which was bottled in Maryland by the Catonsville Bottling Company. A case of the bottled root beer cost just pennies less than a case of Coca Cola. Potato chips, another summer staple, were bought fresh from the Granite State Potato Chip Company located just a few miles away in Salem. Travis routinely purchased several dozen 5 cent bags to resell at his stand. Other items, including dairy products and eggs, were frequently purchased fresh from farms in Salem; Marsh's Dairy and Turner's Dairy supplied the majority of such products.
Although food certainly was the focus at Bud's Corner, other products, including cigarettes and the Sunday newspaper were sold at the stand. Operating expenses for a season ran about several thousand dollars in the 1940s. Travis, a meticulous record keeper who saved every receipt, recorded the expenses for a single season as follows:
$350 - Tonic
$150 - Chips
$1,130 -Beer
$1,035 - Cream
$1,826.09 - Tobacco
$1,000 - Groceries
$200 - Milk
$250 - Bread
$100 - Crackers
$150 - Ice
$100 - Gas
$100 - Clams
$80 - Frankfurters
$30 - Sunday Paper
$100 - Electricity
$150 - Rent
$350 - Help Expense
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$7,101.09
The stand was a true Cobbett's Pond institution, and remained open for over two decades.
Although food certainly was the focus at Bud's Corner, other products, including cigarettes and the Sunday newspaper were sold at the stand. Operating expenses for a season ran about several thousand dollars in the 1940s. Travis, a meticulous record keeper who saved every receipt, recorded the expenses for a single season as follows:
$350 - Tonic
$150 - Chips
$1,130 -Beer
$1,035 - Cream
$1,826.09 - Tobacco
$1,000 - Groceries
$200 - Milk
$250 - Bread
$100 - Crackers
$150 - Ice
$100 - Gas
$100 - Clams
$80 - Frankfurters
$30 - Sunday Paper
$100 - Electricity
$150 - Rent
$350 - Help Expense
-------------------------------
$7,101.09
The stand was a true Cobbett's Pond institution, and remained open for over two decades.
George Travis' 1952 retailer's license to sell cigarettes and other tobacco products at Bud's Corner store
Below is the 1941 insurance policy for Bud's Corner. The $500 policy from the Aetna Insurance Company, which was good for one year with a $10 premium, covered Travis' "one story, frame, non-combustible shingle roof building...occupied as [a] store and ice cream stand."
