This holiday season, bring the warmth, flavor, and history of Ashland right into your kitchen with the Ashland Cookbook Collection, a lovingly curated compilation of 100 local recipes spanning the 1950s through the 2020s. Printed by Minuteman Press of Ashland just in time for festive gatherings, this collection is perfect for inspiring Thanksgiving feasts or holiday celebrations with family and friends.
“We’re all about bringing communities together,” says Caroline Sweeney, owner of Minuteman Press of Ashland. “Printing a community cookbook is like a love letter to the town that has fed and nourished us for generations.”
The Ashland Cookbook Collection is more than just recipes—it’s a celebration of Ashland’s enduring sense of community. It brings together cherished recipes from Ashland’s past, including On the Tracks, originally compiled by the Ashland Junior Woman’s Club in 1958; The Ashland Book of Cooking, created by the same spirited club between 1961 and 1963 and printed by The Herald-Progress; and Blessings and Dressings, gathered with care by the members and friends of Saint James the Less Episcopal Church in 1996. To these timeless classics, the collection adds recipes shared by Ashland neighbors today, all captured and printed with gratitude by Minuteman Press of Ashland for the Downtown Ashland Association in 2025.
Sneak Peek recipe contributed by Khaki Weber
“So many of these homemade recipes were getting lost in church basements and family notebooks,” adds Downtown Ashland Association Executive Director Coach Antonio Miller. “Thanks to our friends, neighbors, and sponsors like Minuteman Press of Ashland, we're able to print, bind, and share these recipes so they're available to every kitchen shelf.”
Minuteman Press of Ashland has turned this community treasure into more than a piece of history you can eat—it’s also a fundraiser for the Downtown Ashland Association, which works tirelessly to provide programming and resources that keep downtown Ashland vibrant. Twenty percent of proceeds from cookbook sales will go directly to the Downtown Ashland Association, who will, in turn, make donations to ARC of Hanover and St. James the Less Episcopal Church—honoring the original fundraising intentions of the Ashland Junior Women’s Club and St. James the Less Episcopal Church.
Beloved Ashland writer Phyllis Theroux, in Blessings and Dressings, reminds us that, “A good cook must be a kind of kitchen contemplative, grounded in the present and entirely focused upon the onions as you are chopping them. Onions resent being chopped haphazardly.”
In that spirit, Downtown Ashland hopes these pages will invite readers to slow down, savor the moment, and reconnect with your town, your table, and the stories that make Ashland the Center of the Universe.
Pre-Order Today!
Copies of the Ashland Cookbook Collection are $30 each. Pre-orders end on Black Friday, November 28, and only 50 copies will be sold!