Pear-adise at Shirley Place
By Eileen Woodfood
The pears in the orchard at Shirley-Place are now beginning to mature. They hang in heavy clusters on the trees along Rockford Street, teasing us–too obvious to ignore, but not yet ready to pick. We wait and watch, anticipating the right moment when we can start to pick them.
We have five varieties of summer pears in our orchard: Seckel, Tyson, Bartlett, Dana’s Hovey, and Clapp’s Favorite. The Tyson, Seckel and Bartlett varieties were cultivated during the 18th century either in Pennsylvania or England, while Dana’s Hovey and Clapp’s Favorite are native to Roxbury during the time that Madame Eustis lived at Shirley-Place.
When our executive director, Suzy Buchanan, asked that I write this article for our newsletter, I enthusiastically took on the assignment. I am just beginning to understand the grounds and plantings of Shirley-Place. Writing these articles helps me deepen my knowledge and expand my understanding so that, as a Governor, I can help the Association make the most informed decisions about how to manage and preserve this exceptional resource.
However, researching our pears was much more difficult than I anticipated. In fact, it was downright maddening. There is a multitude of European pear varieties – in fact, about 3,000. Yet, trying to find any information beyond the superficial on the internet was nearly impossible. While there was some general information about two of our pears, Seckel and Bartlett, there is virtually nothing about the other three varieties in our orchard.
In addition, while there is a lot of information on the history of European pears on the internet from the times of the ancient Greeks through the 17th century, there was virtually no information about pear cultivation in Massachusetts during the 19th century. Our go-to sources on this topic – the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and the Massachusetts Historical Society – were closed and staff generally unavailable. Without the aid of librarians, who really do save us from fruitless internet searches, I could not go beyond what little is readily accessible.
Well, what about our own archives? Unfortunately, we have very little information about our own pear trees other than a few cursory notes. So, I was left to the internet.
Literally after a month of looking, I found two sources that provided more in-depth information–a hobby website of a guy named Anton and the website of a woman who authored a 2015 book on the history of pears in Europe. So, much of what you read here comes from those two sources.
Seckel
According to one enthusiast, “Seckel stands almost alone in vigor of tree, productiveness, and immunity to blight, and is equaled by no other variety in high quality of fruit.” The legend behind this variety is that, toward the end of the 18th century in Philadelphia, a well-known cattle dealer called “Dutch Jacob” would take off each fall for a shooting excursion south of the city. Upon returning to the city, he brought back pears of an “exceedingly delicious flavor” to give to his neighbors, but he kept where they were grown a secret. Eventually, Dutch was able to buy the land with his beloved pear trees, which occupied a neck of land near the Delaware River. However, it was the next owner, a Mr. Seckel, who saw the commercial value of the fruit, named it – after himself -- and introduced it to the market. The new variety was a sensation. As early as 1819, Dr. Hossack of New York sent Seckel varietals to the London Horticultural Society, where they were later distributed in England… Hmm. Our notes at Shirley-Place say that Seckel came to the US from England in 1794. Is there a forgotten pear in England that is really a Seckel, but not acknowledged as such? Whatever the origin of Seckel, the pear was highly regarded during the first half of the 19th century. Henry A.S. Dearborn, a Roxbury resident, noted Massachusetts politician and one of the founders of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society (MHS), exhibited a cluster of 36 Seckel pears at the MHS in 1831, and, at the first meeting of the American Pomological Society, held in 1848, Seckels were recommended for general cultivation.
Tyson
“Ripens early!” screamed one website when describing Tyson. The website waxed on, “…the fruit is sugar-sweet with a hint of spice.” It’s also a vigorous grower and disease tolerant. According conventional internet wisdom, this pear originated in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania in 1794; however, given the mythology around Seckel, it may have a different cultivation story altogether. The 1921 text Pears of New York called the flavor of Tyson “second only the Seckel and stated the “tree is the most nearly perfect of any pear grown in America.” So, why do we not find the “nearly perfect” Tyson in the grocery store anymore? Why are fruit growers not providing us with near taste perfection? Because, according to one website, it went out of favor because it was not as large or pretty as Bartlett.'
Bartlett
In the world of fruit, this is the George Clooney of pears – well built, good looking and with enduring popularity. Even its description matches that of Mr. Clooney: “The flesh is juicy with a sugary, musky flavor…” I’m surprised that we don’t see Mr. Clooney doing advertisements for Bartlett pears. Originating in Berkshire, England in the 1700s as a chance seedling, it is now the world’s most planted variety. (And, why wouldn’t it be with this description?) It is still known by its proper name—Williams’ Bon Chretien—Williams in Europe. So, how did it become known as Bartlett? It’s a similar story to that of Seckel. Enoch Bartlett was a merchant-cum-farmer who bought a farm in Dorchester that had belonged to one Thomas Brewer. Popular accounts state that the farm included a pear orchard that produced excellent pears. Bartlett “thought” that the pears had had grown from seedlings and brought them to market under his own name. However, in 1828 a shipment of pear trees arrived from England – one of the varieties being the Williams pear, and by that time it was “too late” to change back the name of the pear in the US. My middle school teacher “fib radar” lights up big time when I hear this story that it was “too late.” I am skeptical that Mr. Bartlett wanted to take his name away from a fruit that was quickly growing popularity and pushing out the previous stars such as Seckel and Tyson. Who would?
Clapp’s Favorite
According to pear lore, Clapp’s Favorite was raised by Thaddeus Clapp, Dorchester, Massachusetts, but the date of its origin is uncertain. It was favorably mentioned as a promising new fruit at the meeting of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 1860. The American Pomological Society first listed Clapp Favorite in its fruit-catalog in 1867. Those of you who live in Dorchester or who have commuted through Edward Everett Square are familiar with this fruit through the 12-foot sculpture of Clapp’s Favorite that stands in the middle of the square. The City of Boston redesigned the square in 2007 with the bronze pear as the centerpiece. It was created by Somerville artist Laura Baring-Gould, who worked on it for five years. The length of time to create her artwork was probably not dissimilar to the time it took to cultivate a prized new fruit variety. To see an image of the pear, click here.
Dana’s Hovey
According to our notes in the files, this pear was developed from the European Winter Seckel pear by Francis Dana of Roxbury in 1854 and named Dana’s Hovey in honor of C.M. Hovey.
Evidently, this is quite the pear when ripe. The fruit is described by one enthusiastic writer as “a delicious little dessert pear, so juicy, sweet, and rich that it is a veritable sweetmeat.”
Here’s the rub: we can’t find any information about Francis Dana of Roxbury, at least not on the internet. What is so surprising is that the website of nearly every commercial orchard or fruit nursery will attribute the apple to Francis Dana – one website even called him the “indefatigable raiser of new fruits,” and even attributes 16 different varieties of pears to Dana, but they give no other biographical information about him. I was so sure I was missing something, that I called up our executive director, Suzy, and made her search the internet with me. We found a lot about the Dana family and a lot about Francis Dana of Revolutionary War fame, but that Francis Dana was dead by the time that these fruits appeared and, it seems, that fruit cultivation was not one of the elder Dana’s hobbies. Plus, he never lived in Roxbury, and, furthermore, he did not have a son named Frances. So, who is our pear cultivating Francis Dana? Suzy slyly suggested that he is a she and that her name was really Frances Dana rather than Francis.
I did find more about C.M. Hovey. He was the son of a grocer in Cambridge; his initials stand for Charles Mason; and he started a seed store and nursery with his brother Phineas in 1832 that eventually grew to a 40-acre establishment in Cambridge. He was an avid propagator and cultivator of fruits, founded a magazine devoted to horticulture, was an active member of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and really loved camellias and chrysanthemums. He also wrote the magnum opus entitled The Fruits of America: containing richly colored figures, and full descriptions of all the choicest varieties cultivated in the United States, published in two volumes between 1848 to 1856 and containing about 100 beautifully wrought chromolithographs by the British artist, William Sharp. Our mysterious Francis Dana clearly admired Mr. Hovey by naming one of his pears after him.
We have a treasure trove of historic fruits in our orchards at Shirley-Place, and yet in some ways we know so little about them and their connection to Madame Eustis and the rich horticultural history of Massachusetts that was her milieu during the early 19th century. My small research foray into this arena only shows how much more there is to learn.