From the Living Museum
Junaluska
- Origin
- Cherokee country of western North Carolina; known by the 1850s
- Era
- Pre-Civil War (Cherokee country, NC); rediscovered 2001
- Type / use
- Dessert · Fresh eating · Cider
History & Stories
Rare regional Southern heirloom. Unique mainly for its adaptation to the Southeast and its place in Appalachian fruit history; documentation is limited outside regional collections.
Folklore & Name
Named for the Cherokee leader Junaluska (c. 1779–1858), honored for his part in the 1814 Battle of Horseshoe Bend; he never formally held the title "chief" 1. Pre-Civil War Southern U.S. variety from the Cherokee country of North Carolina. Tradition says that when the government bought Cherokee land, $50 extra was paid for his favorite apple tree 4,6. Rediscovered in 2001 after being long sought by collectors. One of the most significant Native American–associated apple stories.
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
Junaluska (also spelled Junaluskee or Junaliska) is an apple from the Cherokee country of western North Carolina. It is named for Junaluska (c. 1779–1858), the Cherokee leader honored for his part in the 1814 Battle of Horseshoe Bend; the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography notes that he never formally held the title "chief" 1.
The apple was known by the 1850s. An 1857 horticultural magazine described "Junaluskee" from the orchard of Stephen Whitaker of Cherokee County, North Carolina, and Southern nurseries listed it into the 1890s 2. In 1867 John Warder wrote that it "originated in the Cherokee country, where it is highly esteemed" 3. It was long thought to have died out in the 1800s 6. In 2001 apple hunter Tom Brown found trees in Macon County that matched the old descriptions and judged them "with high probability" the true Junaluska 4. It now grows at Horne Creek Farm's Southern Heritage Apple Orchard, a North Carolina State Historic Site 5.
The competing accounts
- Tom Brown, citing a letter by the Macon County orchardist Silas McDowell 4: when the government bought Cherokee land, $50 extra was paid for Junaluska's favourite apple tree on the tract.
- Big Horse Creek Farm 6: tells the same $50 story, crediting a 1905 USDA reference.
- A popular retelling links the tree to the Trail of Tears and says Junaluska refused to leave until he was paid for it. None of the accounts we found says this.
Most likely (our judgment, not a certainty): the $50 payment story, which goes back to McDowell, a contemporary who grew the apple. We have not seen his letter, so it remains a tradition. The Trail of Tears version looks like a later embellishment.
What we think: stories & traditions
The $50 tree (tradition). The best-loved story says that when the government bought Cherokee land, Junaluska's favorite apple tree stood on the tract, and $50 extra was paid for it. Tom Brown traces this to a letter from Silas McDowell, a noted Macon County orchardist who grew the apple 4,5, and another retelling credits a 1905 USDA citation 6. We have not seen the original letter, so this stays a story.
What the story doesn't say. Retellings often tie the tree to the Trail of Tears and to the chief refusing to leave his land. The accounts we found don't say that. They describe a payment, not a standoff.
Either way, it is easy to see why the apple carried his name: an old warrior's tree, valued enough that someone wrote down its price, and found again almost a century and a half after his death.
Sources
- Gordon B. McKinney, "Junaluska," Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, ed. William S. Powell (UNC Press, 1988), via NCpedia. www.ncpedia.org/biography/junaluska
- Tom Brown, "Junaluska Apple Descriptions" (transcriptions of the 1857 Magazine of Horticulture and 19th-century nursery catalogs; originals not checked), applesearch.org. applesearch.org/Junaluska_Apple_Descriptions.html
- John A. Warder, American Pomology: Apples (New York: Orange Judd, 1867), "Junaliska," p. 411. archive.org/details/americanpomology00ward/page/411
- Tom Brown, "Junaluska Apple Discovery," applesearch.org. applesearch.org/Junaluska_Apple_Discovery.html
- Frank Graff, "How Apple Trees Preserve & Honor Cherokee Culture," PBS North Carolina, 28 Oct 2022. www.pbsnc.org/blogs/science/cherokee-apple-cultivation/ ; NC Historic Sites, "Southern Heritage Apple Orchard." historicsites.nc.gov/all-sites/horne-creek-farm/southern-heritage-apple-orchard
- Big Horse Creek Farm, "Junaluska" (secondary source). bighorsecreekfarm.com/junaluska/
Curious about Junaluska?
Email us at drgoss@honeytreeorchard.com.