Newtown Pippin: "Prince of Apples"

In comparing the fruits of Europe to those of America, Jefferson wrote from Paris, "They have no apples here to compare with our Newtown pippin." The Pippin originated along Newtown Creek on the estate of Gershom Moore, in what is now Queens across the East River from Manhattan, early in the eighteenth century. The original tree reputedly died in l805 after being maimed by decades of scionwood hunters who repeatedly exhausted the tree from excessive cutting. Its appearance in the Williamsburg, Virginia nurseries of William Smith in 1755 and Thomas Sorsby in 1763, and the orchards of numerous eighteenth-century Virginians, suggests the widespread distribution and reputation the Pippin achieved at an early date.

The Newtown Pippin was the only American fruit to achieve lasting fame and fortune in England. Benjamin Franklin is credited with importing barrels of the fruit in 1759 when he was in London, while John Bartram supplied scionwood to the English botanist, Peter Collinson, a few years later once word of the quality of this apple had spread. By 1807 the Newtown Pippin appeared on the Horticultural Society of London's "Select List" of apples.

In 1838 Andrew Stevenson of Albemarle County (the seat of Jefferson's Monticello) was the American minister to the Court of St. James in London. He imported two barrels of locally grown Pippins " . . . in as good a state of preservation as we have them in Richmond, and never did a barrel of apples obtain such a reputation for the fruits of this country!" Stevenson presented them to the new British queen, Victoria, who responded to the fine flavor of the variety ("a great sensation at the palace") by lifting an English export tax on imported apples. "They were eaten and praised by royal lips, and swallowed by many aristocratic throats."

The name Albemarle Pippin first appeared in print on the editorial page of Richmond, Virginia's The Southern Planter in 1843 when a disgruntled writer complained about the importation of northern apples to Virginia, when "the very best pippin we know is grown in the county of Albemarle." By 1848 exported fruits "commanded the highest price in the Covent Garden Market, London," and by 1898, when it was grown commercially primarily for export, the Pippin sold at prices three times those of other American varieties in the markets of Liverpool. No American apple reaped such a profit for the grower. The Albemarle County Pippin industry, profitably based on foreign exportation, thrived in fertile, elevated mountain coves on the spurs of the Blue Ridge until the end of World War I, when the British government reinstated import taxes on American apples in order to promote the apple industries of its Commonwealth countries.

The reputation of the Pippin was, in part, established by its fine keeping qualities that endeared the apple to European consumers after a trans-Atlantic voyage. The green-skinned, yellow-fleshed Pippin is both sweet and tart; crisp and tender at the same time. The citrus-like aroma, some describe it as "piney," lingers in the mouth like a dear memory. This is "the prince of apples."

Peter J. Hatch, Director
Monticello Gardens and Grounds
January 1995