
Ruth Graves Wakefield
ABOUT RUTH GRAVES WAKEFIELD
Inventor of the Toll House Cookie, the first chocolate chip cookie.
She owned and operated the Toll House Inn, delighting her guests with self-created desserts. She discovered that by dropping pieces of Nestle chocolate into cookies did not melt it, but softened it up.
Her recipe caused sales of Nestle's chocolate to skyrocket, and the company made her a deal: they would print her recipe on their boxes and she would get a lifetime supply of chocolate.
She was born in East Walpole, Massachusetts. In 1926, she married Kenneth Donald Wakefield.
She hosted many famous visitors at her inn, including then-Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy .