Historic Hood River
Oldest Apple Tree in the Northwest
10-12-2020
Notes
Another entry in the “you learn something new every day” book: this circa 1910 postcard shows an apple tree believed to have been planted in 1826 at Fort Vancouver, when it was roughly 90 years old. It actually survived until this June when it succumbed at 194 years of age. How did I miss this story? You can read more about it here.
L.E.
Thanks for posting the old photo. I grew up with the history of this beloved old apple tree. As a child, it was always visible, like this photo, on a trip to Vancouver. Then as the building of freeways with their on and off ramps became important to our rapid pace of travel, the apple tree disappeared behind a circle of concrete. If you knew where to look, you might catch a glimpse of it.
ArthurB
LE, I was confident you would know about this. Hard to imagine a fruit tree living almost 200 years, but I know at Columbia Hills State Park there is a rose bush and a grape vine which have survived since the 1870s, if my memory serves. I’ve even sampled the grapes.
Kenn
This is just north of highway 14 at Fort Vancouver and Pierson field..
At Eagle Creek Oregon there is a lilac tree at the Phillip Foster farm that Mary Foster brought around the horn from the east coast by way of the Sandwich islands that is now higher than the two story house.