From the Living Museum
Carter's Blue
- Origin
- Mount Meigs, near Montgomery, Alabama; first grown in the 1840s
- Era
- 1840s (Alabama)
- Type / use
- Dessert · Fresh eating
History & Stories
Named for the heavy bluish bloom on its dark skin 2. First grown in the 1840s by Colonel Carter at Mount Meigs, Alabama, and described in 1869 1,2, it was later thought lost in America until apple historian Lee Calhoun found it in England's National Fruit Collection 2. Personal observation and possible DNA work would still add value.
Folklore & Name
Alabama heirloom from the 1840s, first grown by Colonel Carter of Mount Meigs Depot, Alabama. Named for its attractive bluish bloom/skin. Southern U.S. heritage variety with limited but documented 19th-century origin.
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
Carter's Blue originated at Mount Meigs, near Montgomery, Alabama, and was described in 1869; it was also known as Lady Fitzpatrick 1. Big Horse Creek Farm, a North Carolina heirloom nursery, says it was first grown in the 1840s by a Colonel Carter of Mount Meigs Depot, and that it gets its name from the heavy bluish bloom on its dark skin 2. The variety was once thought extinct in America. Apple historian Lee Calhoun found it again in the UK National Fruit Collection in Kent and brought it home 2. That collection still holds it 1.
What we think: stories & traditions
A rose-water apple. Big Horse Creek Farm describes the flavour as rose-water 2. We'll be able to check that against the fruit from our own tree. The "blue" is the waxy bloom on the skin, not the skin itself 2.
Sources
- UK National Fruit Collection, "Carter's Blue." www.nationalfruitcollection.org.uk/full2.php?id=996&fruit=apple
- Big Horse Creek Farm, "Carter's Blue." bighorsecreekfarm.com/carters-blue/
Curious about Carter's Blue?
Email us at drgoss@honeytreeorchard.com.