Uncle Sherbert's Sock-It-To-Me Cake

A few years ago I had the privilege of doing an event with Chefs John Shields and Gwyn Novak at Gwyn's unique space on Solomon's Island, No Thyme to Cook. It was basically a cooking demonstration and we created Broiled Chicken Deluxe, Deviled Crab, Mrs. Tawes Seven-Layer Cake, and some other seasonally-inspired choices. I talked about the history of the dishes.

At the time I hadn't processed the significance of Novak's heritage of being associated with well-remembered businesses in the area. It's spelled out on her website, though: "More than one hundred years ago, Chef Gwyn’s great-grandfather Mortimer Bowen purchased waterfront property on Solomons Island, Maryland. It was here in 1918 that he built Bowen’s Inn."

The Inn burned down in 2006 and now Novak continues to operate on the site in her own personalized way.

I thought a lot about the regionally cherished spaces of Solomon's as I read about Woodburn's, a grocery and general store that was founded in the 1940s by Benjamin F. Woodburn. On Facebook, locals recall various iterations of the business. One often-shared photo shows Edgar Woodburn, the second generation owner, driving his station wagon onto the frozen Patuxent river in 1977 and getting stuck. The Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge, then completing construction, looms in the background.

Woodburn's is actually a little difficult to research, owing to the fact that the name is such a common one in the area. Newspaper searches turn up generations of Woodburns who owned businesses, farmed, served in the military, and captained ships. Solomon's was a quiet town in the 1940s when the grocery store first opened, a place for fishermen and boat builders. The war brought some excitement with the Naval Amphibious Training Base Solomons, which operated from 1942 to 1945.

Sherbert Sylvester Dowell was operating his radio and television repair business around that time. His 1940 draft registration card lists him as self-employed.

Sherbert was born in 1909 to Wilson and Sadie Garner Dowell. Censuses indicate that the Dowells operated a store as well. Family ancestry on all sides is rooted in Calvert County for generations.

In addition to his electronics business, Sherbert operated other ventures with his business partner Garner "Pete" Grover, including a liquor store and a bar known as The Boys' Tavern. Maria Buehler, operator of Buehler's Marketplace and Museum, was so kind as to provide me with some photos of Sherbert and his businesses. One photo shows Sherbert and Pete looking dapper and ready to tend bar in a room decked with wood paneling.

As the decades progressed, Solomon's began to change. In 1983, resident Pepper Langley told the Evening Sun, "People used to work the water and keep up their houses. In the evening, we'd sit out and relax on the porch. Nobody has time for that anymore; so they don't build houses with porches anymore. And I don't like houses without porches."

Ralph Eshelman, the director of the Calvert Marine Museum, expressed fears that "it won't be long before [Solomon's becomes] just another honky-tonk town." Edgar Woodburn predicted that residences would give way to shops and restaurants.

A decade later, Edgar sold the family store to Thomas McKay. When a Food Lion opened in 1998, McKay pivoted the business to gourmet and specialty foods. Southern Maryland got its first sushi bar. "I didn't realize when we first moved here that we'd be in the sticks," a woman from Rye New York told the Washington Post. "I'm so delighted to finally have a place where I can find everyday things I use."

Pete Grover served as County Commissioner from 1976 to 1986. When he died in 1998, an obituary in the Washington Post referred to him as "Mr. Baseball," for his love of the game and the land he gave for use as ball fields in Calvert County. Grover and Sherbert, first cousins, "were known throughout the county as 'the Boys,'" the obituary noted, mentioning that the paid had "also opened a grocery store, liquor store, and a bar and restaurant."

Sherbert Dowell died in 1995 and is buried in Lusby Maryland alongside many members of his family. Like the site of the original Woodburn's store, the space his store and bar occupied has cycled through a series of other businesses, closed and soon forgotten.

Somewhere along the years, Edgar Woodburn had married Isabelle Dowell, younger sister of Sherbert. I believe that Leta Woodburn, who contributed this recipe to a 1978 cookbook produced by the Calvert County Mental Health Association, is Edgar and Isabelle's daughter.

"Butter 'n Love Recipes: Mind Over Batter" is an interesting cookbook that I've written about before. Other recipes bear some names I came across while researching this post: Grover, Dixon, Bowen.

"Sock-It-To-Me Cake" started making an appearance in newspapers in the 1960s, almost always listing Duncan Hines Butter Recipe Cake Mix as the first ingredient. At one point the recipe was printed on the box. Most versions call for pecans, but bakers have often swapped in black walnuts. The difference is dramatic. Following Woodburn's recipe, I baked a cake so redolent with Black Walnuts that I found it best enjoyed in small doses. At least it makes the cake's name a lot more fitting.

Mementos of Dowell sit on display at Buehler's, now a part of regional lore. The Facebook nostalgia mill turns up stories from people who remember their favorite places to shop, dine, and gather, in Solomon's and in any town near you. I know I have my own collection of bygone haunts that I miss, and the vain wishes that they could have continued on forever. But many places - the best ones - are more than just a business or a building, cool wood paneling and cold beers. They are a collection of people in a moment in time, and every moment become the past eventually.

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