N.J. Murdick and his family (circa 1900)

Our family has been in the candy business since 1887!

Today, three generations of master candy-makers make our delicious, creamy fudge.

Newton Jerome "Rome" Murdick opened the first Murdick's Fudge Store on Mackinac Island in 1887. That same year the Grand Hotel opened and Rome saw an opportunity to peddle his wares to the newly arriving resorters who flocked to the pristine isle on huge steamers from the big cities below. Like his father, Cap'n Henry Murdick, N.J. Murdick was a boat builder and sail maker by trade, but N.J., along with his wife, Julietta, liked to dabble in candy making.

In fact, it was Rome who not only developed the Murdick fudge recipes, but also perfected the process of cooking the fudge in big copper kettles (then over what was originally a wood-fired stove - later coke-fired, and today gas-fired). Pouring the fudge out onto a marble slab to cool, working (or "creaming") the fudge until it sets, and, finally, shaping the fudge into a long loaf to be cut into 1/2 lb. slices was also Rome's inspiration.

Murdick's Fudge became renowned later, as Rome's eldest son, C. Gould, also a master candy-maker, carried on the family trade into the 1950's. Rome's two younger sons, F. Jerald, and A. Jerome, had their hand in it as well.

Today the fifth generation of Murdicks are still making candy the way our ancestors did!

• Jerome's son, Doug, set up shop in Traverse City in the early 1960's.
• Jerald's elder son, Francis (Fran), has been making candy since 1948.
• Today, Fran's son, John, and grandson, Aaron, work with him making Murdick's Fudge in Mackinaw City.
• Fran's daughter Celeste and husband Leon operate a candy kitchen in Charlevoix.