Webb's Captain's Table
It all started with Paul Webb and Nadine Henderson. Paul was from St. Petersburg, Florida and Nadine was from Corry, Pennsylvania. As young kids, they both moved with their parents to Mayville NY, the county seat of Chautauqua County which sat at the North end of Chautauqua lake a few miles and several feet higher in elevation South of Lake Erie. Paul was an athlete, Nadine a dancer. Their story began around 1937, the year they both graduated from high school. It all seemed to happen at once. First, they were married blending their stories together and then they started honing their talents Paul as a ballplayer and Nadine as a tap-dancer with her partner and friend, Marmey Crandall. Paul played for the local Moose Club and soon was invited to play for a county team known as the Lake Erie Redbirds. He attracted so much attention from his performance on the field that a professional scout invited him to tryout for the St. Louis Cardinals!
Meanwhile, in her own realm on the dance floor, Nadine was also turning heads. After a successful performance on Major Bowe’s Talent Hour, a popular radio program of the time, Nadine was invited to tryout for the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes! Unfortunately, neither Paul nor Nadine ever made it to their auditions. A war was brewing in Europe. Germany invaded France, Belgium, and Norway. In Washington DC, a military draft was reinstated and Paul Webb was notified that his name had been drawn.
Paul went to Europe and Nadine stayed in Mayville tending to the young family business which was a soda shop on Mayville's main street known as the Fountainette. In 1944, Paul landed at Normandy under Nazi machine-gun fire. He not only survived the invasion, but took twenty-nine German prisoners. He fought with General Patton at the Battle of Bastogne. When the war was over a bronze metal adorned his chest for acts of heroism in a combat zone. Paul Webb returned to Mayville after proudly serving his country.
Ready to work and disciplined from wartime Paul and Nadine sold the Fountainette to make way for their dreams as candy-makers and restauranteurs. They purchased a small cottage on the shores of Chautauqua Lake and began making chocolate suckers from their kitchen. They later purchased The Mooring Bit, a small diner in Mayville that became Webb's Captain's Table. In 1970, Paul and Nadine, with a family now beneath them, started construction on a lakeside motel.
From there came many changes and expansions to Webb's family business, but the groundwork had been laid. What started out as a venture in chocolate suckers grew to include not only the restaurant, the motel, the candy shop and a miniature golf course, but also various real-estate acquisitions in Florida including a second candy shop, rental medical offices, a gas station with convenience store and even a citrus grove! Though Paul passed in 1999 and Nadine in 2007, their imprint on the business remains firm and lasting, today. The way they learned to entertain, to care, to listen and to provide -- it's all there, like they never left. Today, the story of Webb's lives on through their five children, many grandchildren and the ever-extending company of great-grandchildren.
Paul and Nadine Henderson Webb's imprint on their restaurant business certainly remains firm and everlasting to this day thanks to their son, Ben; his wife, Amy and their 2 children, Teagan and Cord who will, hopefully, someday carry on the legacy of the Webb name for another generation and beyond.
Pat Locke, Maestro Muse
