Chocolate lovers flock to iconic Beaufort shop. ‘I’m going to miss the hell out of it’
Customers and employees were commiserating Tuesday morning at The Chocolate Tree, the iconic Carteret Street confectionery in Beaufort that apparently is closing at week’s end after nearly a half century in business.
The venerable store’s chewy caramel and pecan tiger paws, English toffee, almond bark and the peanut brittle and chocolate turtles, made on location at 507 Carteret St., are legendary. The candy store was a must stop for tourists and even music and movie stars who were passing through, from The Pointer Sisters to Sally Field. For locals, picking up chocolate-covered strawberries or chocolate alligators for special occasions was a tradition.
“I’m going to miss the hell out of it,” Richard Fanger, said Tuesday morning, when the tiny store with a painting of a chocolate tree at the front entrance was filled with customers making a final purchase.
No formal announcement that the store was closing was made but the news quickly made the rounds on social media.
Manager Mary Fox, who has been with the store for 28 years, told the Beaufort Gazette and Island Packet Tuesday morning that employees had been informed that the doors would close Friday.
“We’re all sad about it,” Fox said. “We’ve been trying to keep the doors open and keep it going and keep the shelves stocked. I guess you could say it didn’t work.”
Even though employees said they were told the store was closing on Friday, the future remained unclear. The owners were not at the store Tuesday morning and chose not to comment when contacted by an employee.
“They have not told us anything,” Fox said. “We’re hoping by Friday we will know more.”
On Tuesday morning, employees placed chocolates being sold at discount prices in boxes for customers who also browsed and took photographs of memorabilia like signed photos of actors such as Tom Hanks and Tom Beringer and singers like The Pointer Sisters and Wynonna and Naomi Judd. The photos are posted on a wall near the back entrance. “Um Um Good!” the Judds wrote.
Above the photos are award-winning ribbons the candy store’s chocolate garnered over the years.
“A lot of sad people are coming through,” said Gwen Williams, the manager of the kitchen. “All of the people don’t want it to go down.”
Patrons who left through the back way passed a sign that says, “Have a Sweet Day. Please Come Again.”
Helen Brown stopped in to buy peanut brittle for her brother, a big fan of the confectionery who now lives in Greenville. The peanut brittle was sold out so she settled for cashew brittle.
“It was kind of shock,” Brown said of the closing. “It’s like a staple from the community we’ll be missing.”
A retired school teacher, Brown used to take her students on field trips to see how candy was made.
Pat Green and Bonnie Towle opened The Chocolate Tree in 1980 and together they became an overnight success but that wasn’t their intent. It started when their husbands built a candy case to show examples of what they could teach people to cook. As it turned out, more customers wanted the candy than the lessons. A few years later, Green bought out Towle and continued to manufacture and sell chocolates. In 2010, Green was inducted into the International Candy Hall of Fame, akin to a film actor or director winning an Academy Award.
English toffee made with almond butter crunch and chocolate and crushed cashews and caramel- and pecan-filled tiger paws coated in chocolate were two of the most popular treats, Fox said.
In 2011, Green transferred ownership of the store to her sister Joy King, and son, Gene Green. But Joy King died last fall, leaving ownership to her two sons.
Film stars Tom Hanks and Sallie Field were among the stars who visited The Chocolate Tree when the 1994 blockbuster “Forrest Gump” was filmed in the area. A small sign in the front window says, “Tourists Treated the same as Home Folks.”
Legend has it that the box of chocolates featured in “Forrest Gump,” the same box that sparked the iconic line “Life is Like a Box of Chocolates,” was purchased at The Chocolate Tree, but that could not be confirmed.
Pat Green was interviewed about the film for a 90-minute documentary called the “Spirit of Beaufort: Remembering Forrest Gump,” which debuted at the Beaufort International Film Festival in 2024. In the documentary, Green says her first encounter with the film was with a producer who asked her if she could make some chocolates with the letters spelling “Forrest Gump.” The Producer provided a credit card and said there would be repeat orders. The store made many deliveries to the stars of the film with Sally Field a frequent buyer, Green added. Ripley’s Believe It or Not reported in 2024 that it had acquired the box of Russell Stover candies used in the movie, which was signed by Tom Hanks, for $25,000. “Believe It or Not!,” it says, the box is not filled with chocolates, but with sand.
This story was originally published May 27, 2025 at 3:09 PM.
