After an investment of $23.5 million, The Hershey Story has opened to the public in Hershey, Pennsylvania. It’s a complete rework of the town’s old Hershey Museum, and tells the story of the only name in America linked to a man, a town, and a candy (It also complements Chocolate World, a fake chocolate factory tour on the outskirts of town).
Milton S. Hershey was proud of his model town and his school for orphans. But he was only able to build these because he was so good at mass-producing and selling milk chocolate. Thus The Hershey Story’s most important exhibits include a chocolate mixer and a Hershey’s Kisses wrapping machine (in use until last year) that you can turn on by pressing a button, a Chocolate Lab (mostly for school kids), and a chocolate tasting bar, where for $8.95 visitors get to knock back six full shot glasses of warm chocolate from exotic places like Java and Tanzania (This is a more opulent variation of the oil sniffing display at the Drake Well Museum, also in Pennsylvania).
There is, however, less of an emphasis on chocolate in The Hershey Story than chocoholics might like, and rightly so. As the Reading Eagle points out, the opening of The Hershey Story “coincides with the closing of the Hershey factory in Reading and other cities,” leaving Hershey’s chocolate to be made in Canada and Mexico, but not in Hershey.
I-81 exit 77. Drive south on Hwy 39 for seven miles, turn right onto Park Ave./Hwy 743, drive one block and turn right onto Chocolate Ave. The museum will be on the right.
Hours:
Daily 9 am - 5:30 pm. (Call to verify) Local health policies may affect hours and access.
Sadly and unwisely, Hershey closed their Smiths Falls, Ontario plant this past December 2008; it is headed to Mexico. So Canadian Hershey chocolate is no more.
Milton S. Hershey was proud of his model town and his school for orphans. But he was only able to build these because he was so good at mass-producing and selling milk chocolate. Thus The Hershey Story’s most important exhibits include a chocolate mixer and a Hershey’s Kisses wrapping machine (in use until last year) that you can turn on by pressing a button, a Chocolate Lab (mostly for school kids), and a chocolate tasting bar, where for $8.95 visitors get to knock back six full shot glasses of warm chocolate from exotic places like Java and Tanzania (This is a more opulent variation of the oil sniffing display at the Drake Well Museum, also in Pennsylvania).
February 10th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
Sadly and unwisely, Hershey closed their Smiths Falls, Ontario plant this past December 2008; it is headed to Mexico. So Canadian Hershey chocolate is no more.