From the Living Museum
Harrison
- Origin
- Essex County, New Jersey (Newark–Orange area), around 1712
- Era
- c. 1712; famous by 1817
- Type / use
- Cider
From the ArchiveFilm
Watch its story
The Lost Cider Apple of Newark
A short narrated history of Harrison, told through the archive illustrations of our apple collection.
Illustrations: wood engraving No. 83, William Coxe, A View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees (1817), and Deborah Griscom Passmore (1899), USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection, National Agricultural Library (public domain). Narrated with a synthetic voice.
Watch on YouTubeHistory & Stories
The legendary American cider apple, nearly lost and later rediscovered. Produces juice of exceptional richness, sugar, and tannin that makes a dark, full-bodied cider often compared to wine or even whiskey. Unique for the almost mythical reputation it holds among American craft cider makers and for the drama of its near-extinction and recovery.
Folklore & Name
Legendary American cider apple from the New Jersey area. Nearly lost and later rediscovered. Named for the Harrison family of Essex County; Samuel Harrison is said to have raised it from sprouts obtained around 1712 1,3; the reputation of its rich, wine-like cider is the true legend.
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
Harrison was the great cider apple of Newark, New Jersey. In 1817 William Coxe called it "the most celebrated of the cider apples of Newark," grown especially on Orange Mountain, and said it was named after a local family in Essex County, where it first grew. Its long stalk earned it the nickname "long stem," and Coxe reported one tree in Essex County yielding more than 100 bushels in a season 1. A.J. Downing agreed that "New Jersey is the most celebrated cider making district in America," and that the Harrison "has long enjoyed the highest reputation as a cider fruit" 2.
A 2010 history in Edible Jersey (reprinted by the Newark History Society) cites The Domestic Encyclopedia of 1803: Samuel Harrison's son reported that around 1712 his father got "a large number of small sprouts, from a Mr. Osborne, of South Orange," from which the apple came 3. The same article describes the apple's decline in the late 1800s, and how in September 1976 the Vermont fruit collector Paul Gidez found a large Harrison tree at the Nettie Ochs Cider Mill in Livingston. He took cuttings just before the tree was cut down 3.
The competing accounts
- William Coxe, 1817 1: named after a family in Essex County, New Jersey, "where it originated"; by then the most celebrated cider apple of Newark.
- The Domestic Encyclopedia (1803), as cited by Edible Jersey 3: Samuel Harrison's son said that about 1712 his father obtained a batch of little sprouts from a neighbour named Osborne in South Orange, and the apple grew from one of them.
Most likely (our judgment, not a certainty): Essex County, New Jersey, around 1712. The 1803 account is the earliest and most detailed, and it fits Coxe's family name. It also hints that the first tree may have been Osborne's rather than Harrison's.
What we think: stories & traditions
Newark "champagne." By the 1840s, the article says, Newark cider was being sold under the label of French Champagne. In 1866 Harper's claimed it "could not be distinguished from certain brands of Champagne wine" 3. That's a period boast, not a blind tasting.
Washington's choice? (tradition) George Washington is said to have preferred Harrison cider to Hewes Crab cider 3. We have not seen a primary source for it.
Found by asking for directions. Gidez reportedly stopped at a bagel shop to ask about old cider mills, and found the tree on his first try. Only after searching for more did he realize how rare it was 3. It is one of the best rescue stories in American apples.
Sources
- William Coxe, A View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees (Philadelphia: M. Carey and Son, 1817), "No. 83. Harrison," pp. 148–149. archive.org/details/viewofcultivatio00coxerich/page/148
- A.J. Downing, The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America (New York: J. Wiley, 1869 printing), "Harrison," p. 226. archive.org/details/cu31924050513989/page/226
- "Lost & Found: The rise, fall and rebirth of the Harrison cider apple," Edible Jersey (Fall 2010), reprinted by the Newark History Society. www.newarkhistorysociety.org/images/articles/resources/PDF/EJ_Harrison_Apples_fall10.pdf
Curious about Harrison?
Email us at drgoss@honeytreeorchard.com.