Classic
Vanilla
The one everyone reaches for first.
A York Beach original · est. 1896
Saltwater Taffy, pulled in the window, wrapped by hand.
For more than a century The Goldenrod has stood at the corner of Railroad Avenue in York Beach, Maine — part candy kitchen, part old-fashioned restaurant, part small-town living room. Come for a Goldenrod Kiss. Stay for supper.
The Window Ritual
Warm sugar, cool sea air, and a slow, steady pull.
Every summer the taffy pullers turn behind the plate glass on Railroad Avenue, and Goldenrod Kisses come off the line the way they always have — soft in the middle, dressed in a twist of waxed paper, one at a time.
The Goldenrod opened its doors in York Beach in 1896, and the ritual out front hasn't changed much since: heat the batch, roll it into ropes, hand it to the pullers, and let the machine do its patient work while a crowd of kids presses noses to the window.
The candy that comes out of that window is what everyone calls a Goldenrod Kiss — a saltwater taffy just soft enough to give when you bite it, wrapped in the same little waxed twist that grandparents remember from their own York Beach summers.
Inside, the shop opens into a long counter and a dining room that still feels like a beach-town living room. Come for a bag of Kisses. Stay for a plate of something warm and a scoop of ice cream at the fountain.
1896
Opened on Railroad Avenue
Then
Kisses wrapped by hand
Now
Kisses still wrapped by hand
Always
Pulled in the window each summer
The Kisses Counter
A hundred little flavors of summer.
A sampler of the Goldenrod Kiss lineup — mixed by the pound, sold by the twist, wrapped one at a time. Flavors rotate through the season.
Old-Timer
Molasses
Deep, dark, unapologetically 19th-century.
Summer
Strawberry
Bright pink, boardwalk-ready.
Sharp
Peppermint
Cool as a sea breeze after a hot walk.
Rich
Chocolate
Cocoa-forward, cold-glass-of-milk energy.
Nut
Peanut Butter
The reason kids beg for one more.
Bright
Lemon
A pinch of sun in a paper twist.
Woodsy
Wintergreen
Grandpa's favorite. Non-negotiable.
Sample flavor list — the counter runs deeper than this every summer. We'll drop in the current lineup and any current prices once you're ready.
The Dining Room
Beach-town suppers, plain and honest.
Past the candy counter, The Goldenrod opens up into a full-service dining room and an old-fashioned soda fountain. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner in season — the sort of unfussy, generous cooking that made a summer town love a place for a hundred summers.
The Soda Fountain — pull up a stool.
Chocolate frappes, black-and-whites, root-beer floats, hand-scooped ice cream in glass dishes. The kind of counter you sat at with your grandmother, and now sit at with your kids.
Ask the server what the day's special is. The answer is usually "yes."
The Front Window
Six little pictures, painted from memory.
Illustrated scenes standing in for your real photography. We'll drop your images into these six frames on your first pass.
All artwork above is hand-drawn placeholder — replace with photography whenever ready.
Plan Your Visit
Come see us on Railroad Avenue.
Two blocks from Short Sands Beach in York Beach, Maine. Details below are placeholders — real hours, phone, and menu will slot in when you're ready.