Featured Letter: Thomas Jefferson Requests a Sampling of Cider
Like many of his neighbors, Jefferson drank cider, favoring that made from the Hewes' Crab and Taliaferro apples grown in the orchards at Monticello.
Like many of his neighbors, Jefferson drank cider, favoring that made from the Hewes' Crab and Taliaferro apples grown in the orchards at Monticello.
Thomas Jefferson recorded a recipe that blended "red Hughes" cider apples with other varieties to make hundreds of gallons of cider each year.
The Albemarle, or Newtown, Pippin was one of Thomas Jefferson's two favorite apples, the other being 'Esopus Spitzenburg.' He planted as many as fifty Albemarle Pippin in the South Orchard at Monticello between 1769 and 1814.
Thomas Jefferson's planted thirty-two of Esopus Spitzenburg apple trees in the South Orchard at Monticello between 1807 and 1812.
Many enslaved workers harvested apples and labored to bottle cider each year, including George Granger, Sr.
The mountaintop orchards included up to eighteen varieties of apples planted on the south, east, and north slopes.
An undated sketch made by Thomas Jefferson with front and side views of an apple mill and press.
Learn more about the history of apples in America in this short video, including how most early apple trees were planted for cider-making. Check our online Calendar of Events for the date of this year's annual fall apple tasting.
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