In 1861 when Abraham Lincoln was in the White House, Lewis Dubois Bassett made his first batch of ice cream. The place: The Bassett backyard in Salem, NJ. The method: A mule-turned churn. This month, America’s oldest ice cream company celebrates its sesquicentennial in the same location it has occupied since 1893: Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia, PA.

Since then, for more than five generations, Bassetts Ice Cream has produced more than 100 different flavors of its super premium ice cream. Here’s the scoop: When President Barack Obama was in Philly in September 2010, he visited Bassetts and enjoyed a serving of mint chocolate chip — my personal favorite, too. Today the Bassetts Ice Cream menu includes more than 40 flavors of ice cream, frozen yogurt and sorbet.

I propose ordering a double scoop of Champagne Sorbet — 8 bottles of real Champagne go into every 50 gallons of the flavor — and saluting Bassetts Ice Cream on its 150th anniversary. Who’s with me?

Blogger  Bio: Pauline Bartel, M.A., is President and Chief Creative Officer of
Bartel Communications, Inc., an award-winning corporate communications firm,
specializing in marketing, public relations and business anniversary consulting
services. The firm  created “The Bartel Years™” and “The Bartel Years 200™,” rosters of business  anniversary symbols to inspire two centuries of business anniversary
“sell”-abrations. Download free copies of “The Bartel Years™” and the special
report “The Top 10 Business Anniversary Ideas for SELL-abrating Your Business
Anniversary” at this link: http://www.paulinebartel.com/services/corporate-services/business-anniversary-consulting