In 1929 Melissa McMeekin Collins drove in an old Model T car to Rockport, Massachusetts with her daughter Melissa Collins Smith to look at a blacksmith forge that had been advertised for sale in the New York Times. Melissa McMeekin Collins had the idea of fashioning a restaurant modeled after a then-famous London establishment where steaks, chops, and seafood were cooked over the forge and diners enjoyed the bohemian atmosphere of an old blacksmith shop with wagon wheel light fixtures and cast iron antiques of a passing age decorating the rustic walls. After viewing the property in Rockport a deal was struck and Mrs. Collins went on to be very successful at her Blacksmith Shop Restaurant. She passed away in 1937 and the restaurant continued to be run by her daughter Melissa Collins Smith and her husband William (Bill) P. C. Smith. Bill founded the Anadama Bread bakery in the late 1940s which he ran until his death in 1970. Melissa Collins Smith continued on with various local businesses for over seventy seasons on Cape Ann. Her legacy includes The Blacksmith Shop Restaurant, The Faraday Inn, The Cable House Bed & Breakfast, and The Easterly Inn. Written by the original Melissa’s great-grand-daughter, Melissa Smith Abbott, this book is both a history of these historic eating establishments and a collection of recipes for which they were known. Among the recipes is the original recipe for Anadama Bread used by the Anadama Bread Bakery. Loaded with historical information, vintage and contemporary photography, memorabilia, and nearly 300 authentic and original Cape Ann recipes, The Legacy of Three Melissas is a delicious slice of Cape Ann, Massachusetts history.
