It is commonly believed to have existed before 1850[citation needed] in areas of Maine and Massachusetts in coastal New England.

"[1][2][4] Near the turn of the 20th century, it was commercially baked by a man called Baker Knowlton of King Street in Rockport, Massachusetts, and delivered in a horse-drawn cart to households by men in blue smocks.

In the 1940s, a Rockport restaurant owned by Bill and Melissa Smith called The Blacksmith Shop on Mount Pleasant Street started baking the bread for their restaurant in a small bakery on Main St.

They baked about 80 loaves a day until 1956, when they built a modern $250,000 bakery on Pooles Lane.

For a number of years, it was baked by small local bakeries at breakfast places on Cape Ann.