TRACK ONE: Crossing Paths / Introduction

CROSSING PATHS WITH JOHNNY APPLESEED

BY JIM NOVAK, © 2021

ONCE UPON A TIME, in a nearly mythical place, called Ohio, there lived a nearly mythical man, called Johnny Appleseed. Johnny Appleseed was a real person, named John Chapman, born in 1774 -- two years before the Declaration of Independence. And, Ohio -- it’s also real.

John Chapman crossed paths with George Washington and with Abraham Lincoln. He had important conversations with each of them, which I will tell you about. He also crossed paths with the leader of the Sauk Indians, Keokuk, and they became friends. And he briefly crossed paths with a hyperactive little Frenchman, Alexis de Tocqueville, who traveled around the States and Territories researching his book, Democracy in America.

Chapman / Appleseed became a figure in American folklore, and was well known even in his own time. He planted apple trees for nearly 50 years, and was active along the Indian trails & the Ohio River and the Ohio’s tributaries, from Pennsylvania to Indiana. He was distinguished by a reputation for wearing shabby clothing, going barefoot, and sleeping most nights outdoors. He was gentle in manner, eloquent in speech, ascetic in his diet – a lot of nuts and berries – and he had a giant appetite for sweat and toil, as he planted and tended his seedling apple trees.

He was a low-profile guy. He was no “King of the Wild Frontier.” Not a celebrity. Not a politician, nor a published author. But there are plenty of scholars who see him as an influencer, in the environmental movement, the Civilian Conservation Corps, Earth Day celebrations, even the whole idea of national parks. He’s been called the Green Spirit of the Frontier. He was an ardent supporter of peaceful and respectful relations with the Native American people. He supported the Abolitionists and Underground Railroad activities along the Ohio River. He carried no gun to protect himself or to hunt. He developed expertise in medicinal plants. His religious and spiritual side emphasized the interconnectedness of all living things. His ideas would fit fairly well with the some of the New Age ideas of our day.

Also, he was an astute entrepreneur who helped the settlers adjust to the economics of frontier life, often very kindly lending or giving away seeds, trees and clearings that he made into his orchards.

From New England to Virginia, America was a Cider Culture among the white settlers. And “cider” meant what we call Hard Cider. Their cider was mildly alcoholic, about half the strength of wine. It was safer to drink than water, which was often polluted or foul-tasting. Cider would ferment from pressed apple juice in a couple weeks. Also there was stronger stuff, called “applejack.” Making applejack required sub-freezing temperatures, and then skimming off the intensely alcoholic liquid that refused to freeze solid.

Why did the settlers welcome and even embrace someone who provided apple tree seedlings? Setting up your orchard indicated that you were actively working your land claim, and it guaranteed you could legally hold your land title. That was the legal side. In daily life back East, cider and also vinegar were essentials. At Monticello and Mount Vernon, Jefferson and Washington ran very large business operations for cider. Even on the frontier, an orchard of at least a few dozen trees and an apple press were part of almost every small farm and homestead. Some land titles required the owner to clear the land, build a cabin, and have 50 apple trees per 100 acres, “pruned, fenced in and secured from animals.” Chapman’s seedlings would take about 5 years to mature, and his strategy was cleverly to start his tree nurseries along the Ohio trails and waterways well in advance of the next wave of settlers.

And here’s a song I wrote about him, a song that folks on the frontier might have sung in his honor.