Click here to reveal the new special edition flavor for May 2025!
Some things never change. The wire-backed chairs. The iconic Pennsylvania Dutch wallpaper. The smell of toasting waffle cones. Cammie’s Old Dutch Ice Cream Shoppe has been a Mobile mainstay for decades.
The oldest ice cream shop in Mobile has seen generations of customers flock to the corner of Florida Street and Old Shell Road, the location that owner Cammie Wayne refers to as “the mothership.” In the summer, the small shop is packed with patrons stopping in for a cold treat and a break from the summer heat. Parents who had their birthday parties in the ice cream parlor as children now celebrate their own kids’ birthdays at Old Dutch. “I am now employing my first set of employees’ children, so that’s kind of like, ‘Oh gosh!’” she says with a laugh.
When she was 16, Wayne worked at the ice cream shop, originally named Widemire’s Old Dutch Ice Cream Shoppe after its founder, Edwin Widemire, who opened the parlor in 1969 in an old Texaco station.
Eventually, when Wayne was 30 years old, Widemire was looking to sell, so she bought the shop. “I had never stepped foot in a business class. I did not go to college,” she says. “I’d never owned a business, and I was told over and over again that I was not going to be able to do it.”
Flash forward 27 years and Wayne seems to be doing just fine at the helm. Old Dutch now has three locations, including one on the Eastern Shore, and delivers to 37 grocery stores and ice cream shops across several states.
“We’re driving to Baton Rouge, Memphis, Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Dauphin Island, Prattville, Greenville and Birmingham,” she says. Wayne is just as involved as ever, usually working six to seven days a week. She lists being raised in a hardworking family as the reason her work ethic is still going strong; she couldn’t imagine doing anything different. “I love what I do,” she says. “I have taught myself to go home at night. I try not to work nights, but in the summertime, you can’t help it.” The cakes and brownies that go into the ice cream are baked in house. “We have four machines and make 700 gallons of ice cream a week.”
While Old Dutch has a solid lineup of staple flavors — “I like the old-fashioned pointy cone with vanilla ice cream in it, that’s my favorite thing,” she says — Wayne often sources new flavor suggestions from her customers, posting on Facebook for ideas. “People love to try new stuff and so I’m always trying to change it up. You can’t be closed minded and say, ‘These are the flavors I’m going to carry.’ Not today because people want to try different stuff.” She has more time to play with seasonal varieties in the wintertime, using them to bring in customers during the colder months. When summer starts, however, she can barely keep up. “Sometimes, I don’t post on my social media for a month because I can’t catch my breath,” she laughs. Many of her cult classic seasonal ice creams, such as the Peeps, king cake and MoonPie flavors, are ones that she came up with herself. “I think I was one of the first one with king cake ice cream,” she says. “Then Blue Bell followed.”
Not only is Old Dutch engraved into the culture of Mobile, but it is also at the heart of the community, as well. Wayne is typically at charity events donating ice cream at least once a week. “My main goal is to always be available for the community and always give back,” she says. “If you expect your community to support you, you have to support your community.”
Just entering its 56th year, Old Dutch shows no signs of slowing down. Nor does the owner of Mobile’s oldest ice cream shop. “I take a lot of pride in the fact that not only did I keep the business going but I have grown it six times of what it was. That took a lot of work,” Wayne says. After 27 years of ownership, Wayne still is at the center of the business, and the mothership location is still churning out ice cream cones and sweet memories to visitors. “I love my shop in Fairhope, I love my shop on Halls Mill, but this is where my heart is.”
We partnered with Cammie’s Old Dutch and MB readers to come up with a one-of-a-kind flavor based on the bay area, and make it available for the month of May at all Cammie’s Old Dutch locations!
Winning Flavor: Holy Heavenly Hash
Both Miranda Manley and Rachel Warner thought a collaboration with the nuns of the Visitation Monastery would be divine! Cammie will be swirling chunks of their famous Heavenly Hash into mocha ice cream with rich fudge swirls.
Honorable Mentions
Hundreds of readers chimed in with their creative and super-local flavor creations. Below are some of the best ideas that had us licking our lips and hungry for sweet summertime!
BUSHWACKER
The Gulf Coast’s favorite summer drink is now a ice cream treat. A chocolate base with swirls of coffee, coconut and spicy rum flavors makes a delectable treat to be enjoyed by all ages (adults can add a 151 floater for the real deal!). — Rachel Warner
IT’S THE HUMIDI-TEA
Sweet tea and lemon, or maybe Earl Gray tea? — Lauren Vesely
DOWN BY THE BAY
Watermelon, lime and a hint of coconut. — Danielle Gann
BEACH BUM CRUNCH
Creamy pineapple coconut ice cream base, a swirl of mango and honey, white chocolate chips (seashells) crushed vanilla wafers (sand) and toasted coconut flakes! — Nicole Ewing
BROOKLEY AIRPORT
White chocolate Biscoff cookie. — Beth Mead
MAGICALLY DELICIOUS CRICHTON LEPRECHAUN
Vanilla ice cream with cream cheese swirls and lots of matcha (for the green) and marshmallow, and just a hint of Irish whiskey. — Paul Campbell
MOBILE BAY MUDBUG
Chocolate ice cream, swirls of chocolate pudding and chocolate ganache and crushed chocolate cookies, with a taste similar to dirt cake. — Ashley Anne Hamby
THE BEE’S KNEES
Honeysuckle nectar-steeped sweet cream base, with swirls of caramel and shards of honeycomb candy. — Amanda Gibson
FRONT PORCH SWEET TEA
Southern summers in a scoop! Brewed sweet tea with the juicy sweetness of Alabama peaches, finished with a swirl of local honey and crushed tea cookies makes for the ultimate porch-sipping experience. — Devon Calametti
SUMMER ON THE COB
A creamy sweet corn base that’s rich and comforting, plus the warm, nutty flavor of brown butter, which really takes it to the next level. Honey-caramelized cornflakes give it the perfect crunch. — Devon Calametti
YELLOWHAMMER GLAMMER
Iced Mocha similar to that found in a Yellowhammer Later Gator.— Broxton Sanders
SHRIMP SHERBET
Creamy orange sherbet base with crushed pineapple (like the old sherbet my mom churned in our ice cream freezer with orange soda, condensed milk and a can of crushed pineapple!) — Joy McGough
GULF BREEZE
Blue coconut ice cream with whipped cream “seafoam swirl” and graham cracker “sand” blended throughout. — Jayme & Luke Kiszla
Cammie’s Old Dutch Ice Cream Shoppe // cammiesolddutch.com
