Categories
All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

Summertime Orchards of New Hartford

A thriving pear tree, its branches bowing with the weight of ripe fruit, arches over a fieldstone wall at the edge of an orchard in Northern Connecticut.

Yankee Farmlands № 36 (Pear Tree beside an old fieldstone wall in an orchard, New Hartford, Connecticut)
“Yankee Farmlands № 36”
Orchard beside an old fieldstone wall, New Hartford, Connecticut
© 2015 J. G. Coleman

A thriving pear tree, its branches bowing with the weight of ripe fruit, arches over a fieldstone wall at the edge of an orchard in Northern Connecticut. Distant apple trees promise an equally generous harvest as gentle clouds soar overhead.

An 1838 book, The New American Orchardist, commented that “next to the apple, the fruit tree most generally cultivated in New England is the pear.” The author went on to explain that, despite looking very similar, pear trees are actually quite different from apple trees. “The pear tree”, we are reminded,” also differs essentially from the apple in its superior longevity.”

Indeed, the oldest cultivated fruit tree still alive in the United States is the famed Endicott Pear Tree in Essex County, Massachusetts. So named because it was raised by John Endicott, the first governor of Massachusetts, the tree is believed to have been planted roughly a decade after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. To this day, at an age of about 385, it still produces fruit.

Purchase a Fine Art Print or Inquire About Licensing

Click here to visit my landing page for “Yankee Farmlands № 36” to buy a beautiful fine art print or inquire about licensing this image.

Want to See More?

Be sure to check out all of my work from the on-going Yankee Farmlands collection.