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Bassetts' frequently peachy, sometimes rocky road to its 150th birthday.

By Carolyn Wyman

When the Bassett family first began selling ice cream in Philadelphia, Abraham Lincoln was president.

"There are only two ice cream makers in this country that date back to the 1800s and are still run by the same families," says Ellen Brown, who surveyed creameries around the country for her new book, Scoop . "One is Graeter's of Cincinnati. The other is Bassetts — and Bassetts is older."

The company might have been first on the local ice cream scene — showing up the year the Civil War started — but that didn't last long. By the turn of the last century, Philadelphia was the ice cream capital of America, with Bassetts facing competition from Breyers, Abbotts, Dolly Madison, Supplee's and dozens of other brands. They are all now either defunct or made differently elsewhere.

Bassetts is the last ice cream brand standing in Philly and the first in the country to mark a CONTINUE via www.citypaper.net