It’s a strange thing to follow a legend—listening to echoes of stories and tracking footprints muddied between reality and folklore. A legend becomes immortal and with it, a loss of some truth which is often much more engaging than tales strung together over time and campfires. So it is with our person as he walks through the woods. Legend, folk hero, real man, and his name is Johnny Appleseed.
He is tall and lean. Long brown hair and beard which is ragged as he trims it with a knife, and blue eyes which reflect intelligence. The strength which allows him to clear a patch of trees is belied with his gentle walk. He has been traveling around to check on his trees and stopping at a homestead before he continues west… always west.
Children wait at the edge of a clearing. Word of his coming travels quickly and their family is making preparations. There is a squeal of excitement as John Chapman enters the field with hugs and laughter for the Appleseed Man. On the walk to the house they carefully step around the thistles which are humming with bumblebees. Their guest has often taught the importance of cherishing all of God’s creatures. He waves to the father and is greeted with a pleasant “Welcome Mr. Chapman.” Then laying his bags on the porch they go to look at the orchard.
His real name was John Chapman and he was born in Massachusetts on September 26, 1774. As a young man he and his brother moved to Pennsylvania. His first recorded evidence was in Franklin, Pennsylvania in 1800. When he was 26 he gathered apple seeds from cider mills, put them in a leather bag and set off on his life’s work…