Worcester County Wonders: A treat of a time at Hebert's Candy Mansion

SHREWSBURY ‒ Sitting pretty atop a hill in Shrewsbury, Hebert's Candy Mansion is more than just a candy shop — it's the ultimate destination for a sweet time.

Stepping inside the stone mansion, visitors are enveloped in a thick, rich chocolatey smell, one that hasn't changed in decades. Nostalgia creeps in, as one wanders through the selection of sweets from cow tales to chocolate truffles, marshmallow concoctions to gummi snakes, butterflies and of course, bears.

Paul Smith, VP of operations, lives in Oxford and has been a customer of Hebert's Candy Mansion since he was a kid.

"I came here my whole life and now I'm the VP," Smith said with a grin from ear to ear. "It's a pretty sweet job."

"I used to come here as a kid and believe it or not, this is our first time here as a family," shopper Kristin Cressman said as she watched her sons gawk at the selection of sweets. "We always drive by, but we've never really stopped, so today we thought, Why not!"

Originally known as Hillswold, the property was built in 1912 and named for its owner, Edward Hill, of Providence, Rhode Island. The home was originally planned as a summer home, complete with 36 rooms, but after its construction, it stood abandoned until the 1940s.

"We have customers who said they used to play in this building when it was abandoned," Rachel Ingham, director of retail operations, said. "Everyone has a story; this place has a lot of history."

Hillswold is what brought a young Frederick Hebert to the area in the early 1940s. He'd spent the last three decades honing his skills as a candy maker, having started with nothing more than a copper kettle, thermometer, knife, table and a slab of marble.

Drawn by the traffic of Route 20 and its hilltop location, Hebert fell for the Hillswold mansion and immediately made an offer on the property. By 1946, The Candy Mansion has opened as the first roadside retail confectionary in the country.

Walking around the grounds today, visitors can see the original stone foundations of the home, now located in the center of the several additions throughout the decades. Original marble chandeliers dangle from what once was a grand ballroom and beautiful Italian wood lines the floors and staircases.

As the business grew, Hebert looked for inspiration for the next sweet thing. In the mid-1950s he traveled to Europe searching for a new taste. That's where he was introduced to "white coat" candies, sweets coated in a chocolate made only of cocoa butter, also known as white chocolate. When he returned to Shrewsbury, Hebert introduced the white-chocolate coating to the United States and the rest is history.

The handcrafted chocolate is still made at the former Hillswold site, with its milk and dark chocolate recipes essentially unchanged from Hebert's original concoctions. One bite of its best-selling Geneva and it's clear Hebert knew what he was doing.

The same can be said for Smith and his team as they enter 2024 with big plans for Hebert's. The company moves some 120,000 pounds of chocolate every two weeks from its commercial facilities behind the historic home, with most of its business going toward private-label chocolate.

"We've really come out of the pandemic like a cannonball. 2023 was one of our best years, including pre-pandemic. In fact, Easter of 2023 was the best Easter we've ever had. We really couldn't have done it without both Rachel Ingham, our director of sales, and Sandra Rosales, our director of food and safety," Smith said. "Next, we're really focused on bringing families here as a destination."

Over the next year, Hebert's has a plethora of events planned, including car shows, family fun nights and vendor festivals. In 2023, it held vendor festivals in both spring and fall. This year it plans on putting three festivals on the calendar.

"We really love being involved in the community," Ingham said. Hebert's has a long history of giving back to the community and has worked with Shrewsbury Public Schools, Planting the Seed Foundation, and Night to Shine.

Every Christmas, Ingham heads to the shop, collects whatever stock hasn't sold and delivers it to the Shrewsbury Police and Fire departments, as a thank-you for working over the holidays. This past year, the shop had a 2-foot-tall chocolate Santa left over. The police department happily took the Santa from Ingham and delivered it to a deserving family, making it a very Merry Christmas indeed.

Aside from events, Hebert's had been hard at work creating several new flavors set to be released in 2024, including salted caramel toffee crunch, milk chocolate almond butter, dark chocolate raspberry almond butter and in 2023 launched a dark chocolate with Himalayan salt and a caramel cold brew.

Despite the colder weather, Hebert's ice cream sundae bar remains a popular attraction, and while customers are unable to serve themselves, the staff are happy to help make whatever creation you like. In the summer, visitors can stop by their ice cream window for a delicious treat.

"No one ever comes in here in a bad mood," Ingham said with a laugh.

Thanks to Evelyn for her suggestion of Hebert's Candy Mansion for this edition of Worcester County Wonders.

T&G engagement editor Sarah Barnacle is getting to know Central Mass. by exploring some of the best places to go and things to do in Worcester County. If you have an idea or suggestion, please email sbarnacle@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: A sweet time at Hebert's Candy Mansion