From the Living Museum
Black Oxford
- Origin
- Paris, Oxford County, Maine, about 1790
- Era
- c. 1790
- Type / use
- Dessert
From the ArchiveFilm
Watch its story
Maine’s Plum-Dark Apple
A short narrated history of Black Oxford, told through the archive illustrations of our apple collection.
Illustrations: Bertha Heiges (1902) and Deborah Griscom Passmore (1896), USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection, National Agricultural Library (public domain). Narrated with a synthetic voice.
Watch on YouTubeHistory & Stories
Medium fruit that turns a striking dark purple-red to nearly black with heavy bloom. Crisp, juicy, complex sweet-tart flesh of high quality and excellent storage. Unique among New England heirlooms for its almost black color and refined flavor; slow to come into bearing but long-lived and highly regarded by collectors.
Folklore & Name
Named for its very dark, almost black-purple color and heavy bloom. Classic rare New England heirloom, found as a seedling around 1790 in Paris, Oxford County, Maine 1,2; DNA work suggests Hunt Russet and Blue Pearmain as parents 4.
Digging into the History
Below my own notes, here is what the old fruit books and today’s collections record about this apple, kept apart from the stories people tell.
What we know
Black Oxford is a Maine apple from the town of Paris, in Oxford County. The UK National Fruit Collection's register records it as "known 1790" in Maine 1. George Stilphen's The Apples of Maine, as quoted by the Maine orchard Out on a Limb, says it was a seedling that Nathaniel Haskell came upon around 1790 at Paris, in Oxford County, on the farm of a nailmaker and farmer named Valentine, and that the first tree still stood in 1907 2. The Blaine House, the Maine governor's residence, grows it in its Centennial Orchard and gives the same origin 3.
The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association reports that recent DNA profiling found its parents to be Hunt Russet and Blue Pearmain 4. Out on a Limb describes trees still thriving around central and southern Maine, including one in Hallowell said to have been planted by Dr. Benjamin Vaughan in 1799 2.
The competing accounts
- UK National Fruit Collection register 1: known in Maine in 1790.
- G.A. Stilphen, The Apples of Maine, as quoted by Out on a Limb 2: a seedling found by Nathaniel Haskell around 1790 on the Valentine farm in Paris, Oxford County; the original tree was still alive in 1907.
- Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association 4: DNA profiling points to Hunt Russet and Blue Pearmain as its parents.
Most likely (our judgment, not a certainty): a seedling from Paris, Maine, about 1790, and probably a Hunt Russet × Blue Pearmain cross. The dates from the register and from Stilphen's Maine history agree, and the parentage rests on DNA work.
What we think: stories & traditions
A plum on an apple tree. Growers love to say that from a distance a laden Black Oxford looks like a huge plum tree, with deep purple fruit under a dusky bloom 2,3. It is a description rather than a history, but it explains the name better than any record.
The 1799 Hallowell tree (tradition). A tree over two hundred years old still bearing fruit would be remarkable. The planting date comes from local tradition as reported by growers 2, and we have not seen a document behind it.
Sources
- UK National Fruit Collection, "Black Oxford" (register entry, after M. Smith, National Apple Register, 1971). www.nationalfruitcollection.org.uk/full2.php?id=587&fruit=apple
- Out on a Limb Apples (Palermo, Maine), "Black Oxford," quoting G.A. Stilphen, The Apples of Maine. Secondary source. www.outonalimbapples.com/varieties/black-oxford
- The Blaine House, Home of Maine's Governors, "Centennial Orchard." blainehouse.org/centennial-orchard
- Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, "Heritage Fruits for the Backyard." www.mofga.org/resources/orcharding/heritage-fruits-for-the-backyard/
Curious about Black Oxford?
Email us at drgoss@honeytreeorchard.com.