Real Scotch Scones

Martha Neil Ross pictured above in front of the original golf clubhouse flanked by her husband, golf pro Alex Ross on the left and golf course developer Charles Fish on the right.

In November 1915, the Excelsior Springs Daily Call Newspaper (one of three local newspapers published at the time) picked up a story from The Kansas City Star featuring the signature food of Martha Neil Ross, whose husband, Alex Ross was the
local golf pro here while she ran the dining room.

“Everybody,” the Star writer said, “who has eaten lunch between games on the links at Golf Hill, Excelsior Springs, must know how very good are Mrs. Ross’s Scotch scones.

And Mrs. Ross is as pretty and wholesome looking as her scones are good. She serves them with preserves of her own making and butter from a nearby farm. Oh, such scones. And, oh the heathery brogue Mrs. Ross brought with her from the Highlands. Her husband [the 1907 U.S. Open Champion] is the professional player in charge of the links. His skill with a brassy, though, is not greater than that of his wife with a bowl and a spoon. Here is the scone recipe as she told it to me:

“To a quart of flour add three teaspoons of baking powder (in Scotland we also make them with sour milk and baking soda and cream of tartar, but here everybody uses baking powder), half teaspoon of soda, one tablespoon lard, one tablespoon butter, one egg, three tablespoons syrup, two teaspoons salt and milk enough to make a soft dough.”

I was eating hot scones and quince preserve at the kitchen table while she rolled and patted her dough into shape at the other end of it.

“Handle it as little as you possibly can,” she said, and in a trice her dough was flat on the floury board and ready to cut like the pieces of a pie. Into a dripping pan went some and into the piping hot oven. Onto a griddle went some more and onto the top of the range. Griddle and oven full the rest were tossed right on the hot stove top, and turned when brown on one side, to bake on the other. In ten minutes they were ready for the hungry golfers coming in from the links.”

When Mrs. Ross died in December 1924, the obituary writer was even more effusive: “Mrs. Ross by her charm of manner and a personality best described as motherly has given the club a home atmosphere, which has endeared the club to golfers who come here from all parts of America. Her removal from life and scenes about the club will be felt as a distinct blow to the thousands of visitors who come and go in Excelsior Springs. The many friends of the family in this city join in the bereavement and loss of a good
woman.”

Even as late as 1950, her cooking was still remembered fondly. Major W.A.J. Bell, in one of his last visits here from Sussex, England, after selling his golf links and other Golf Hill properties to the city in 1949, recalled that “Mrs. Ross’s scones and orange marmalade became bywords of golfers far and wide.”

Mrs. Ross was actually born in Kent, England, but her father, Thomas Neil, was Scottish (as was her mother, who was not otherwise identified on the 1924 death certificate). Some accounts indicate she grew up in Scotland, as did her Scottish born husband, so
she may indeed have had a “heathery brogue.”

Learn more about the Rosses, Charles Fish and the developers of Golf Hill and the golf course in displays open through Nov. 30 at the Excelsior Springs Museum & Archives, 101 East Broadway in historic downtown Excelsior Springs. The Museum is open 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.

Researched and written by Kathy Duncan

In November 1915, the Excelsior Springs Daily Call Newspaper (one of three local newspapers published at the time) picked up a story from The Kansas City Star featuring the signature food of Martha Neil Ross, whose husband, Alex Ross was the
local golf pro here while she ran the dining room.

“Everybody,” the Star writer said, “who has eaten lunch between games on the links at Golf Hill, Excelsior Springs, must know how very good are Mrs. Ross’s Scotch scones.

And Mrs. Ross is as pretty and wholesome looking as her scones are good. She serves them with preserves of her own making and butter from a nearby farm. Oh, such scones. And, oh the heathery brogue Mrs. Ross brought with her from the Highlands. Her husband [the 1907 U.S. Open Champion] is the professional player in charge of the links. His skill with a brassy, though, is not greater than that of his wife with a bowl and a spoon. Here is the scone recipe as she told it to me:

“To a quart of flour add three teaspoons of baking powder (in Scotland we also make them with sour milk and baking soda and cream of tartar, but here everybody uses baking powder), half teaspoon of soda, one tablespoon lard, one tablespoon butter, one egg, three tablespoons syrup, two teaspoons salt and milk enough to make a soft dough.”

I was eating hot scones and quince preserve at the kitchen table while she rolled and patted her dough into shape at the other end of it.

“Handle it as little as you possibly can,” she said, and in a trice her dough was flat on the floury board and ready to cut like the pieces of a pie. Into a dripping pan went some and into the piping hot oven. Onto a griddle went some more and onto the top of the range. Griddle and oven full the rest were tossed right on the hot stove top, and turned when brown on one side, to bake on the other. In ten minutes they were ready for the hungry golfers coming in from the links.”

When Mrs. Ross died in December 1924, the obituary writer was even more effusive: “Mrs. Ross by her charm of manner and a personality best described as motherly has given the club a home atmosphere, which has endeared the club to golfers who come here from all parts of America. Her removal from life and scenes about the club will be felt as a distinct blow to the thousands of visitors who come and go in Excelsior Springs. The many friends of the family in this city join in the bereavement and loss of a good
woman.”

Even as late as 1950, her cooking was still remembered fondly. Major W.A.J. Bell, in one of his last visits here from Sussex, England, after selling his golf links and other Golf Hill properties to the city in 1949, recalled that “Mrs. Ross’s scones and orange marmalade became bywords of golfers far and wide.”

Mrs. Ross was actually born in Kent, England, but her father, Thomas Neil, was Scottish (as was her mother, who was not otherwise identified on the 1924 death certificate). Some accounts indicate she grew up in Scotland, as did her Scottish born husband, so
she may indeed have had a “heathery brogue.”

Learn more about the Rosses, Charles Fish and the developers of Golf Hill and the golf course in displays open through Nov. 30 at the Excelsior Springs Museum & Archives, 101 East Broadway in historic downtown Excelsior Springs. The Museum is open 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.

Researched and written by Kathy Duncan