MEMaine field entry
Perry's Nut House
Belfast, ME
A Belfast Route 1 institution selling homemade fudge, nuts, candy, ice cream, Maine gifts and toys beneath a roadside menagerie that currently includes a stuffed gorilla, alligator and python hides, trick mirrors, murals and a curiosity the store calls its mummified body.
Perry's Nut House keeps the old American roadside-attraction formula alive by combining a working candy, fudge, nut and gift business with a restored assortment of strange displays and visual gags.
Field notes
Why it belongs
Fudge shop, nut store, candy store, ice-cream stop, Maine gift shop, toy-and-novelty store, current curiosity cabinet and classic Route 1 roadside attraction.
The store still sells enough real food and merchandise to stand on its own; the gorilla, hides, mirrors, murals and stranger current displays keep it firmly in roadside OddStops territory.
Perry's Nut House has drawn Route 1 travelers in Belfast since 1927. The current business sells homemade fudge, fresh nuts, candy, ice cream, Maine-themed gifts, shirts, toys and other novelty merchandise. Around the retail operation are the pieces that preserve Perry's roadside-curiosity identity: a stuffed gorilla, hanging alligator and python hides, trick mirrors, murals and an object the business itself describes as a mummified body. Because Perry's collection has changed substantially over its long history, the profile distinguishes current displays from famous pieces that existed only in earlier eras.
Store contents
What you will find
Directory categories
Known for
- Operating since 1927
- Homemade fudge
- Fresh nuts
- Candy
- Gifford's ice cream
- Maine gifts
- Toys and novelties
- Stuffed gorilla
- Alligator hide
- Python hide
- Trick mirrors
- Wall murals
- Mummified-body curiosity as described by the business
- Classic Route 1 atmosphere