The Chattanooga Bakery was founded in 1902. The history of the Moon Pie can be found on it's website. The story goes that one of the bakery salesmen visited a "company store". Company stores were found in coal mining communities where the miners shopped using Scrip issued by the Coal Company or shopped on credit. The miners told Mr. Earl Mitchell, Sr. the salesman that they often didn't have time to eat lunch and they wanted something solid and filling. "About how big?" they say Mr. Mitchell asked, and a miner held up his hands framing the moon and said "About that big." When he returned to the bakery, he noticed some of the bakery workers making their own sweet by dipping a graham cracker into marshmallow and putting it on the window sill to harden. A little experimenting and the marshmallow sandwiched between two graham crackers and then dipped in a generous helping of chocolate "about the size of the moon" was born. It became a hit. By the 1930's the Moon Pie was the biggest snack on the rack in the company or country store, and most laborers and farmers could afford the treat for themselves and their children. Gene's father worked in the coal mines after they moved back to Harlan County, and he lost his life in a coal mining accident. Kentucky Coal Mining will be the topic for another post, but a good pictorial expose can be found at A Pictorial History of Kentucky Coal Mining.
Bob Edwards commented on the last post that there is a country song about Moon Pies and RC Cola. There are actually several songs. Here's a sampling:
RC Cola and a Moon Pie by Bill Lister
Lifestyles of the Not So Rich and Famous by Tracy Byrd
RC Cola And A Moon Pie by somebody Adams
RC Cola And A Moon Pie by NRBQ go down the list this is in Alphabetical Order.
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