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Since Executive Director Todd Lasseigne’s arrival, Magic Christmas in Lights has grown in leaps and bounds. One of the first additions Todd made remains one of our guests’ most popular: The S’Mores Stations.
A Graham Cracker Sandwich
A contraction of the words “Some Mores” the recipe was first called a “Graham Cracker Sandwich” in early 1920’s cook books and we can thank the Girl Scouts for first dubbing the gooey treat “Some Mores” in 1927. The contraction “S’mores” dates to a publication aimed at summer camps in 1938 and by the 1950’s that name had won out.
Since their introduction to the Bellingrath Christmas tradition, the Gardens have purchased thousands of cases of Hershey Bars. The creator of that world-famous chocolate bar and our founder with his successful promotion of bottled Coca-Cola have some things in common.
Both men made their fortunes. Walter Bellingrath was working as a telegraph key operator at a very modest salary when he got his start with Coca-Cola. Milton Hershey attempted to start a candy business in 1886 but it failed. A friend told him “This isn’t your first failure. Maybe you aren’t cut out for business,” and suggested he return to his family farm in Pennsylvania.
Hershey, like Walter Bellingrath, was no quitter. While attending the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 he came across German candy makers producing chocolate and he purchased their equipment at the end of the fair. Hershey ultimately succeeded by using real milk and introduced the Hershey Bar in 1900. It was an instant hit since it only cost a nickel – the same price Walter Bellingrath began selling his bottled Cokes three years later.
Like Coca-Cola, Hershey’s chocolate became a household word and grew so rapidly that Milton Hershey created a whole town for his factory.
Both men married relatively late for the era. Mr. Hershey was 41 when he married in 1898. Walter Bellingrath was 37. They both adored their wives.
A Love of Flowers
Katherine Sweeney Hershey and Bessie Morse Bellingrath had much in common. Both were philanthropists and both had a love of gardens. Walter Bellingrath supported his wife’s efforts in creating Bellingrath Gardens which opened to the public in 1932.
Milton Hershey created a 3 ½ acre rose garden and conservatory for Katherine Hershey and they opened it to the public in 1937. Within five years, those gardens grew to 23 acres and included a conservatory filled with palms, ferns, bay trees—and azaleas. The Hershey Gardens was also the first public garden to develop a children’s garden, a feature planned for future expansion in Bellingrath Gardens.
Neither the Hersheys nor the Bellingraths were blessed with children and both men outlived their wives, never remarrying. Hershey Gardens and Bellingrath Gardens survive as memorials to two remarkable women who loved flowers and were certainly loved by their husbands.