Cammie Wayne, Cammie's Old Dutch Ice Cream, Mobile and Fairhope

By Zeb Hargett

Almost 2000 years ago, the first frozen milk and cream served with honey and flavored with fruits were brought to the Roman Emperor Nero. Thus, the summer edible delight, ice cream,  was popularized and perfected. In the Scenic 98 Coastal communities, the delectable ice cream of choice is Cammie’s Old Dutch Ice Cream.

Originally, it was Widemire’s Old Dutch Ice Cream served from Mr. Widemire’s store on Old Shell Road at Florida Street in Mobile. Widemire, from Sylacauga, Alabama, opened Old Dutch in the old Texaco station in 1969. The ice cream he served was made from an old family recipe that had been passed down. 

When Mr. Widemire made the move to Mobile, everyone thought he still made his ice cream, but he didn’t. The ice cream was manufactured by Dairy Fresh, in Greensboro, Alabama, where the company had a milking farm with Guernsey cows, known for producing rich golden milk, high in butterfat and protein.  However, they used the old Widemire family recipe.

Camilla Wayne, Cammie to her friends, a Dauphin Island Parkway girl from Mobile, began dipping ice cream at Widemire’s Old Dutch Ice Cream Shop when she was 16 and a student at B. C. Rain High School. She worked there for about a year until graduation when she began working in the retail jewelry business. “I’ve always been in sales.” She says.  Her resume includes 2 years at Gulf Coast Jewelers, 8 years at Zales Jewelers in Bel Air Mall, and then, at Friedman’s Jewelers under the tutelage of Mr. Billy Walker, for about 5 years. 

“Everything I learned about the retail business I learned from Mr. Billy. He was brilliant. The way he treated his customers, whether you were purchasing a $5 ring or a $5000 ring, he treated you the same. He was an extremely hands-on owner. That’s what you have to be in the retail business.” Billy Walker acquired Friedman’s Jewelers from Lowell Friedman, and Cammie describes Mr. Friedman as “always a gentleman.”  

Years later, Cammie stopped by Widemire’s Old Dutch to show her two young children where she worked as a 16-year-old girl. “When will you retire, old man?” she asked. “I’m looking for a buyer,” he replied. “He interviewed several potential buyers, but he wanted someone to keep everything the same. He offered to sell the business to me at a fair price, and we had a handshake agreement. I had two kids to support, so that’s where my determination came from.” 

Mr. Widemire financed the purchase and stayed on for about a month, showing Cammie how to do her own books. “I still do my books’” she says proudly. “With an 11-year-old daughter and an 8-year-old son, it was hard work. His hours were from 11 am to 10 pm on weekdays and 11 am to 11 pm on weekends. I had to cut back the hours and  open from noon to 9 pm.”

The Shop needed freshening up, and Cammie’s three brothers helped her. The first order of business was no more smoking. The cigarette machine that was once in the back corner had been removed, but the years of smoking in the shop had left its mark. 

“The inside of the shop is famous for its Pennsylvania Dutch wallpaper,  and it had become dingy from years of cigarette smoke. I commenced scrubbing. Afterward, people came in and asked why I changed the wallpaper. I didn’t, that was a film from all the smoking. That’s what it’s supposed to look like,” she told them. 

“Mr. Widemire got me going. Thank God for that because I could have never gotten a bank loan. I was protected under the Grandfather clause, so I didn’t have to rehab the building.” (the restrooms are still out back) The first change was the name. “My name is Camilla, but everyone calls me Cammie, so I changed it to Cammie’s Old Dutch Ice Cream, and Dairy Fresh continued  producing the ice cream from the Widemire family recipe.”

Single at the time, she tells me she worked 7 days a week, and struggled, with cash always being tight. Her daughter started dipping ice cream when she was 13. “All I hire is college and high school kids just starting in the workforce. I work around their schedules and often pick them up from home or school and take them home if they don’t have transportation.”

“They are trainable,” she says. “It’s an eye-opening experience for them. I’m usually the first person who tells them if they are not doing something the right way. I work around their schedules and teach them how to be responsible. The only thing that will get them fired is a bad attitude. I usually know within 5 minutes if it’s going to work out.” At Christmas, Cammie has a party for all her employees. She cooks, serves them, and cleans up. “It drives them crazy, but  it’s my way of thanking them for working hard.”

Single for seven years, Cammie thought owning her own business was really cool until she realized she was working all the time. After the LuLu’s Hot Trot race in Gulf Shores, she met a guy, Larry Wayne, and they went to the beach for the afternoon. They hit it off, exchanged numbers, and then she didn’t hear from him for a while. 

Not one to shy away from opportunity, she took it upon herself to go to the Walmart in Daphne where he was manager. “He was walking out the door when I arrived, and we’ve been together ever since. He’s the only man I’ve ever met that worked as hard as I did.“ They got married in 2010.

Right after they married, Dairy Fresh announced they were going to stop producing ice cream.  Larry took out a loan for Cammie, and they bought their first ice cream machine. It makes 6 gallons, two buckets at a time. Larry built Cammie a tiny little room at the Old Shell store, which they call the Creamery Closet. The mix is made to Cammie’s specifications using the Widemire recipe. Cammie’s Old Dutch is 12% butterfat and contains no eggs. “Most ice cream is 14% to 18% butterfat. Our ice cream is lighter and has fewer calories.

“It was a mad scramble, and for a couple of years, we couldn’t produce enough to meet demand. When Dairy Fresh stopped supplying my ice cream, we had to transition overnight. I had to supplement by purchasing Hersey’s and Mayfield ice cream. I bought all the flavors from Dairy Fresh, and some suppliers were reluctant to sell products to me. The first time I purchased 90 boxes of mix, I  was terrified.”

In the beginning, Cammie would start at 9 am getting ready to make ice cream, work in the shop all day, and then make ice cream until 2 or 3 am. “The only ice cream machine I will buy is from Emery Thompson in Florida. If something isn’t working right, I call him, put the phone up next to the machine, and he tells me what’s wrong, and ships me the part.” Through all this, Larry kept his job as a manager at Walmart for the 401k and health benefits.

When a man in Gulf Shores approached Cammie wanting to sell Old Dutch in his ice cream shop, more orders started coming in and they needed more equipment. They purchased a trailer, put two freezers on it, loaded the ice cream, and raced to Gulf Shores before it would melt. Tommy Cain who owns the Piggly Wiggly in Fairhope called and wanted half-gallons of Peppermint to sell during the holidays. 

“Then Greer’s called and I was about to lose my mind. I told Larry, "Either you quit your job and come help me, or I’m going to have to turn people down.” He did. Cammie needed a creamery and found a bank-owned old seafood restaurant in Mobile on Halls Mill Road.  In 2017, one of the state health department’s inspectors surveyed the building to see if it would be suitable.” 

He told Cammie the building had everything she needed to operate a creamery. The cost to build new would have been prohibitive, she tells me. “It had everything I needed to be approved for operation. With one more small ice cream machine and one twice the size, Cammie’s Old Dutch can now produce 50 3-gallon tubs per day.” 

Today, Cammie sells her ice cream throughout the Southeast from Louisiana to Panama City, Florida, and all points in between. She says she loves selling her Cammie’s Old Dutch in small towns and meets face-to-face with shop owners. In 2020, she decided to open a retail shop at the Halls Mill plant.

After she and Larry married, she moved to Fairhope. Cammie’s third Old Dutch opened in Fairhope in 2024. It’s the location of the Biscuit King, where Larry and his father would meet for coffee and a bite. With news that Biscuit King was closing for good, Cammie suggested they go say a final goodbye. While there, she told Larry that it would make a great location for an ice cream shop.

She envisions the new Cammie’s as a place for people to come to celebrate and enjoy time with friends and family, and she has big plans for what it can become. They have birthday parties, graduation parties, cater weddings, and parties at doctor’s offices. 

Cammie’s is now producing 800 gallons of ice cream a week in 53 flavors. She tries hard to keep her prices low and offers a premium product at a reasonable price. She bakes her brownies and cakes that go into the ice cream. She has seasonal specialties such as King Cake, Moon Pie, Carrot Cake, and Monster Mash for Halloween, and Eggnog for the holidays. “We offered Pumpkin Spice before it was a thing,” she says. “Describe it to me and I will make it.”

We talked a bit about perseverance. “We never closed during COVID. We were considered an essential business. We moved the cash register to the front door and served our customers who were standing outside. Many people said it was a Godsend that we stayed open. Others said we were killing people. All I know is that everything was on the line. The world was turned upside down. I think it helped make things normal for people, especially for children ”

After COVID, Cammie made the difficult decision to close on Mondays. “Mondays are my day off, and I’ve learned to appreciate them. Larry is 100 percent behind me. Knowing that you have someone who has your back and works as hard as you do has been a relief. I focus on one thing and try to make it great” 

Cammie is proud of her two children, who are now grown. They get complimented on their work ethic and are often asked where they learned to work like this. “From our mama,” Cammie tells me. 

With 3 employees who make ice cream from 7 am until 4 pm and 3 freezer trucks for delivery, business is good.  She says she is still growing, and ice cream is a year-round business. Her catering jobs pick up as the weather gets colder, and that “balances things out,” she says.

“Growth is not a bad thing,” she says regarding the boom in the Scenic 98 Coastal area. “When I started on Old Shell Road, Old Dutch and Butch Cassidy’s Cafe were the only thing going. Now look at it.”

Yep, I think I’ll stop by Cammie’s Old Dutch and get a double scoop of Black Walnut and Butter Pecan. That’s the ticket!