Fall is apple season, a time for crisp air, colorful leaves, and bushels of fruit. Much of the apple’s place in American folklore is tied to Johnny Appleseed.
Born John Chapman on September 26, 1774, in Leominster, Massachusetts, he became famous for planting apple trees across nearly 100,000 square miles of the frontier beginning around 1801. While Chapman never planted trees in Wisconsin or the upper Midwest, his travels took him on foot through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, and Indiana. Along the way, he lived and taught values such as generosity, humility, thrift, stewardship, entrepreneurship, and care for others.
In 1830, Chapman established a nursery in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which produced thousands of seedling apple trees. These seedlings were sold, traded, and planted throughout the region. Though we don’t know for certain if any reached Wisconsin, the influence of his orchards certainly spread far beyond Indiana.
Each September, the city of Fort Wayne honors his life with the annual Johnny Appleseed Festival. Chapman’s death in 1845 in Fort Wayne only deepened his legend. Over time, stories transformed him into a larger-than-life folk hero—a barefoot wanderer scattering apple seeds, remembered as the patron saint of horticulture.
This fall, as you enjoy apples from your local orchard or farmers market, take a moment to remember Johnny Appleseed—and visit your library. You’ll find apple-themed picture books, cookbooks filled with pie and cider recipes, and history books about early America. And if you don’t yet have a library card, September is Library Card Sign-Up Month—the perfect time to grow your own connection to lifelong learning.
“The library is both the tree and the apple. It offers not knowledge of good and evil but knowledge for good or evil.” ~ Mark Lawrence