Dorothy “Dot” and Edgar Ouellette, owners and operators of Dot’s Bakery in Round Pond, stand in front of their collection of cast iron skillets and baking sheets in their home. After 40 years of running the business, the couple closed Dot’s Bakery earlier this month. (Johnathan Riley photo)
After decades of baking and being in the local community, Dot’s Bakery in Round Pond closed its doors on Friday, July 14. Owners Dorothy “Dot” and her husband Edgar Ouellette cited health issues and a lack of help as the reasons for the sudden closure.
Ouellette, famous for her pies, breads, and other baked goods, has been running the bakery out of their home, at the intersection of Route 32 and Lower Round Pond Road, since 1983.
“I feel disappointed in a way that I can’t keep going,” Ouellette said. “I’m 76 now, this is my fourth retirement, and we need to focus on taking care of ourselves.”
The longtime business began in front of the house in a roadside stand Edgar Ouellette built for their daughter, Pamela Ouellette, who had started baking. Pamela Ouellette sold blueberry muffins and lemonade in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
According to Dot Ouellette, the bakery grew with the needs of the community. People liked the blueberry muffins so much they asked Pamela Ouellette if her mother made bread. So, Dot Ouellette started making bread. Then the people wanted pies, and Edgar Ouellette built a shelf in the kitchen window to hold the pies Dot Ouellette baked.
“Blueberry pies have been our most popular, and then our chicken potpie,” Dot Ouellette said.
Anadama bread, traditional New England bread made with molasses and corn starch, is another customer favorite.
The next expansion happened naturally, according to Dot Ouellette. Folks asked for a place to sit while enjoying any of the many offerings at Dot’s Bakery.
“They’d come in and ask for a chowder to go and if they could sit down and we’d let them at the kitchen table and we’d talk while I cooked,” Dot Ouellette said.
However, after the kitchen table got crowded enough, they added a porch onto the house with booth seating so more folks could sit down with their chowder. Between the kitchen and the porch seating area, the Ouellette’s could sit 20 or so people for a full breakfast menu that included the famed baked goods as well as pancakes, eggs, toast, and coffee. Dot’s Bakery had turned into a cafe.
“It’s a lot of work,” Dot Ouellette said. “It wasn’t so bad when I had some decent help, but that’s hard to find.”
Dot Ouellette said the couple is looking to sell the house, and the business, hopefully to someone local. Anyone looking for a bakery set up and ready to go would love the property.
The business hasn’t run continuously since 1983, according to Dot Ouellette. The couple moved to Connecticut in 1990 to teach home economics to people with disabilities. After Dot Ouellette retired from that position in 2010, the Ouellettes returned to Maine where they opened up the bakery full time for the last decade.
Dot Ouellette has a history of making food for the community, with family roots running deep in the soil of Maine’s history on the Bristol peninsula. According to Dot Ouellette, her great grandmother, Viola Poland, of Marsh Island, always had some food ready for the fishermen and the people that were around.
“My whole family was social people. Most of my aunts were waitresses or cooks in Damariscotta. The Morton side of the family, all social too.” Dot Ouellette said.
While Dot Ouellette didn’t have leftover baked goods often, when she did, she’d donate it or send people home with extra.
“We didn’t always have something good to eat as kids, but now, we have more than we know what to do with,” Dot Ouellette said.
Dot Ouellette couldn’t say what exactly the next chapter holds for them, but they are selling the house and business soon. The possibility moving back to Connecticut or Pennsylvania to be near family is in the cards.
Mary Jane Smith, of L. Dewey Chase Real Estate, will be representing the property. Those interested can call the L. Dewey Chase Real Estate at 677-2237.
Dot Ouellette and her husband expressed their gratitude to the community, near and far, for supporting them all these years.
“People call and write to me, year after year, saying they’ll come back and that they miss us,” Dot Ouellette said. “They’re part of the family.”
