Tasty Tuesday: Hill City Donuts quickly fills hole left by Mama Crockett’s

A new face in a familiar place is serving up fresh donuts in the Hill City

LYNCHBURG, Va. – Three months ago, the Hill City lost an iconic donut shop.

Then owner of Mama Crockett’s, Frederick Willis, took to social media to announce, “Sunday, May 8th will be the last day of business for Mama Crockett’s world headquarters.”

Anyone who ever tasted Mama Crockett’s, whether at its headquarters or at one of its trucks, immediately felt the absence. Sadness, yet understanding, extended into the community.

This includes Emeline Green, who worked there for a year and a half. After it closed up shop, Green knew that its absence couldn’t last long.

She opened Hill City Donuts earlier in August right on the corner of Fifth and Clay in Lynchburg.

This immediately brought Green back to her happy place, as she tells 10 News, “It just was fun to be back there slinging donuts and just thinking about all the memories that are attached with it.”

She does not yet have a fleet of trucks, and she hasn’t made major changes to the donut menu.

When we visited in a previous Tasty Tuesday, they walked us through the seemingly-simple process, “Hot donut meets dust, and it all kinda melts together. You get this nice, tasty donut.”

These dusty coatings include everything from powder sugar to honey sea salt, lemon bae to strawberry and peach mango to cinnamon sugar.

More than flavor, Green says Hill City Donuts is about preserving the legacy of Mama Crockett’s.

“The reason that we love Mama Crockett’s is not because of the donuts. I mean, people do love the donuts, but it was because you came in here and you felt like family. Or you went to a truck and you felt like…I don’t know…it just has this warm feeling. So, I hope to continue that on.”

Hill City Donuts is open Tuesday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.


About the Author:

Meteorologist Chris Michaels is an American Meteorological Society (AMS) Certified Broadcaster, forecasting weather conditions in southwest Virginia on WSLS 10 News from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. weekdays on Virginia Today.