Ice Cream Parlor

Homestead brand ice cream, an excellent product made in Achibold, Ohio, is the Ice Cream Parlor’s stock in trade, but what makes this small corner sweet shop extra-special are its waffle cones. You smell fresh cones the moment you walk in the door, and if you look to the back of the store at the end of the freezer cases where the ice cream is kept, you will see the source of the enticing aroma: two waffle irons, steaming away, on which waffle cones are baked throughout the day. When the waffle is ready, the gent who makes them peels it off the grill while still hot and winds it around a conical wooden device so that it hardens in the proper form. All of this takes about three seconds from the time the waffle iron is opened, and it is a beautiful sight.

Ice cream set into a freshly made cone tends to melt a little quicker, but the combination of cool, melting ice cream and just-made cone is well worth the mess.

A couple of dozen ice cream flavors are available. We were told that butter pecan is the most popular flavor, but the runner-up — and our recommendation for any first-time visitor — is one called moose tracks: vanilla ice cream swirled with chocolate and dotted with small peanut butter cups.