Every true-born American know what an Oreo cookie is. The famous sandwich cookie with two wafers and sweet creme filling has been the United States' best-selling cookie brand since 1912. But the history behind the famous snack remains a mystery, particularly the meaning behind the name oreo and the specific place where it was invented.
Well, here's a treat for history buffs, Oreo fans, and potential homebuyers. The Victorian mansion where the famous cookie sandwich was invented recently hit the market.
Home of First Oreo Cookie?
According to the New York Post, Adolphus W. Green's former vacation home in Greenwich, Connecticut, was listed for $15.9 million. Green was the chairman and president of Nabisco, currently known as the National Biscuit Company.
Green and his family have been renting the Victorian mansion during summer before eventually purchasing it in 1905. According to Oreo's official website, it was 1912 when the first Oreo cookie was sold after being produced by bakeries at the Chelsea Market in New York City.
New England Land Company brokerage site suggests that this is the home where the cookie entrepreneur developed the renowned chocolate-and-cream sandwich cookie.
However, listing broker John McAtee of the New England Land Company is skeptical if the house should be credited for the world-famous cookie.
"I can't say I was around for a beta test to taste the original Oreo cookie," McAtee told The Post.
"But what I'm led to believe is that after Green purchased the house in 1905 - it was during his tenure when the Oreo came about," he added.
Property Details
While there is no solid proof that Green developed Oreo in his Victorian vacation home, property listing enthusiasts could not help but associate some parts of the house to the delicious snack.
Like how the mansion's turret resembles an Oreo cookie, it has white shingles in between the dark gray Victorian-style roofs.
In the original 1886 design, the turret was a two-floor open-air balcony, but Green renovated and closed the balcony with white walls to extend the bedroom spaces.
At the height of Green's career at Nabisco, he made the house's library shaped like a Uneeda Biscuit - the company's first hit cookie, a square-shaped biscuit with corners cut off.
According to Matt Bernard's "Victorian Summer: The Historic Houses of Belle Haven Park, Greenwich, Connecticut," the library became a home for Green's nearly 6,000 leather-bound books.
"Nobody knows for certain where the Oreo name comes from, but Green himself may have dreamed it up in the Belle Haven library," Bernard wrote in the said book.
Green also put up a small apartment on top of the library; it served as an apartment for male suitors courting his daughters. But the library was torn down by the next owner as they think it didn't match the house's style.
As per the kitchen where Oreo was probably born, its original layout was only 168-square-feet, including the pantry. But it was subjected to major renovations and has been modernized over time.
Currently, the kitchen features dual skin, a double stovetop and oven with an industrial hood, huge windows, white farmhouse cabinets, and light-green paneled walls.
