Drawings, done by members of the State Pomological Society in 1853 and 1855, depict Winn’s Russet and Stevens’ Gilliflower, two once famous apple varieties originating in Sweden, ME.
Drawings, done by members of the State Pomological Society in 1853 and 1855, depict Winn’s Russet and Stevens’ Gilliflower, two once famous apple varieties originating in Sweden, ME.
Howdy neighbor! Ah, how good it is to have made it back around to apple season once again! It’s just about my favorite time of the year; the days start to get shorter, the wind blows just a little more crisply, the first of the leaves just start to turn, and then right on schedule -— bam! — local apples arrive. Very soon now it will be time for apple picking, baking pies, and cider pressing, and time as well for laying away the winter’s stock of apples down cellar… that is if you’re still lucky enough to have a root cellar down there. Should be just right of the coal cellar, behind the pickle shelves under the chimney posts, if you’re not sure where to look. Be careful down there, it’s probably flooded.
Yes friends, local apples are once again growing ripe, now at the start of a lengthy season which begins in September and runs right into October; as one variety after another ripens, fit to harvest in waves in a process which, even today, does not look very much different to how it used to in the days of our forefathers. Today, apples are picked, stored in industrial deep-freeze coolers, and trucked out for sale all across the country, but it may surprise folks here to know that as early as the 1830s, apples from Bridgton, Sweden, Otisfield, Raymond and Sebago were picked, packed in barrels, and shipped out down the old Cumberland & Oxford Canal where, loaded on shipboard in Portland harbor, they sailed for ports as far away as Boston, New York, and even old England far across the wide Atlantic. But more than this, it is more surprising still to learn that not only did Maine’s apples once compass half the globe, but also, that they weren’t always the apples we still know and love today either.
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Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.