Northshore Magazine

December 2015

Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.

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44 | DECEMBER 2015 nshoremag.com CO N TAC T Stowaway Sweets 154 Atlantic Ave. Marblehead 781-631-0303 stowawaysweets. com we spoke to the Canniffes." One competitor for the sale wanted to buy it only for the recipes but had no interest in the property. Another just wanted the large corner lot in order to subdivide it. "We could have lost all this history," says DeWitt. The couple's supporters as well as scores of the Canniffes' loyal custom- ers—fearful the site would be lost for good—started "Save Stowaway Sweets" on Facebook. It's filled with reminiscences of favorite chocolates, of decades of visiting the shop with family members long since gone, and of vignettes about Easter eggs or pound boxes for Christmas. "The Canniffes had enough sen- timentality about the business that they didn't want to see it go away, and we are so grateful for that," says DeWitt. While still in her teens, Emily (Heinritz) DeWitt moved with her parents to Florida. Later, she worked in publicity for Warner Brothers in Burbank, California, and then for Vogue magazine in New York City. "I left fashion to go into the food, publicity, and hospitality business. That's where I met Don 14 years ago. He was an executive chef near the World Trade Center," says De- Witt, who also worked nearby. When the tragic events of Sep- tember 11, 2001, struck, the DeWitts were affected by it firsthand. "We lost customers who had worked in the Trade Center. My apartment was on East Ninth Street. I was working for a restaurateur on Spring Street in the midst of ruins. We'd go to Marblehead on vaca- tions. This would be our home, we thought. This would be the biggest gift we could give our kids," she says, adding that her children, Chris- topher, age 10, and Vivienne, age 5, "are the best brand ambassadors I could ask for." Hundreds of pounds of Stowa- way Sweets are shipped around the country every year from the Marblehead shop. A display case on the wall contains handwritten notes on White House stationery from the 1930s and 1940s revealing that at least two presidents, Calvin Coolidge and Franklin D. Roosevelt, enjoyed the chocolates. Inside a box of old index cards is one that states actress Katherine Hepburn's New York ad- dress and her favorite selections. Having worked in Hollywood, DeWitt has her own celebrity con- nections. Actor Bradley Cooper and screenwriter Jason Hall are new devotees who regularly order Stowa- way Sweets. While careful to maintain the integrity of the shop, the DeWitts are slowly adding their own touches and innovations. Don experiments on new recipes in the basement, where a full-time candy maker hand dips candies using rich, smooth chocolate and fresh nuts. The DeWitts will soon introduce stowawaysweets.com, the first web- site in the shop's history. "This place is a respite, a little escape," says DeWitt. "You cannot leave here without being happy." Stowaway Sweets has a national customer base.

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