Staff Pick: Doughnut Heaven in North Carolina
Wilmington native, Daniel Ray Norris is the author and publisher of a book relevant to Carolina Beach’s popular foodways culture.
Britt’s Donuts – Forever Sweet debuted in 2014 and recalls the 75-year history of a business that continues making its product nearly exact to the first day it opened.
Interestingly, Norris, who claims to be a direct descendant of Blackbeard, is a former Production Manager with WECT TV-6 in Wilmington and current biology instructor at Cape Fear Community College. He is President of SlapDash Publishing.
North Carolina prides itself on its deep culinary heritage. No less so, the North Carolina Collection here at ECU’s Joyner Library boasts the second most comprehensive collection of North Caroliniana materials in the country. The collection houses books, pamphlets, maps, prints, journals, periodicals, and like resources, dating back more than 300 years. With special concentration in eastern North Carolina, Joyner Library is a principal destination for both professional and amateur researchers alike.
Want to know more about Britt’s Donut Shop at Carolina Beach or perhaps another famous rival, Krispy Kreme? Then explore our homegrown database, The North Carolina Periodicals Index, for a treasure trove of articles on the Old North State from A to Z.
See for instance Kathy Westbrook’s article in Our State from 2009 on how H.L. Britt opened his soon to be famous shop in 1939, and Janet Fox’s 1987 article in Business North Carolina on the arrival of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in Winston Salem in 1937.
Particularly interesting to Greenville old-timers are the once very poplar Diener’s Bakery on Dickinson Avenue and Jerry’s Sweet Shop in the former Pitt Plaza Shopping Center. Both home-grown entities saw their own immense popularity in the doughnut trade. A bit of Diener ‘s history is captured in Roger Kammerer’s “Dickinson Avenue Revisited” in the May 2010 issue of Greenville Times.
When planning your next trip to Carolina Beach, consider stopping by Britt’s Donut Shop. It’s always a good time to celebrate all that’s sweet about North Carolina.
Come and visit the North Carolina Collection on the 3rd floor of Joyner Library, where a wealth of knowledge awaits your perusal.
A Diener’s People’s Bakery truck parked on the side of the road, September 17, 1955. ECU Digital Collections https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/2571