The Fameuse apple originated in Canada in the 1600s, but its role in Maine’s apple history was epic.

It’s thought to be a parent of the state’s popular McIntosh, which has been a staple for hundreds of commercial and private orchards around the state for more than 200 years.

The Fameuse and other old varieties like it, such as the Black Oxford, Cherryfield and Chenango Strawberry apple, almost disappeared but were revived and now thrive across Maine.

Their tales often go back to early settlers who brought the trees from overseas to plant on new homesteads and farms. Black Oxford, a Maine original, was discovered on the farm of an Oxford County nailmaker in the 1790s; a Hallowell tree planted in 1799 is still alive. Cherryfield was developed in that Down East town more than 150 years ago, then rediscovered by residents. The Chenango Strawberry apple was originally called Frank after the first name of a New York man who introduced it; others know it as Zepherus Chernogous.

By the 1970s, many such Maine trees were near the ends of their lifespans. Their fields were overgrown, the farmers who planted them forgotten. When Palermo resident John Bunker started rediscovering them, they were mostly “mysterious, anonymous gifts from the past.”

These apples, their histories and their abilities to thrive in Maine’s weather could disappear forever if someone didn’t take action soon, he realized. That led him to create the first Fedco Trees mail-order in 1984: a two-page handout, including 17 apple types, stapled to the Clinton-based Fedco Seeds cooperative catalog. 

Over the next 40 years, Bunker’s hobby grew into a business that has changed the state’s fruit tree landscape on homesteads and small farms, saving and spreading these varieties that could have been lost otherwise, along with other unique fruits, trees and ornamentals.

Though heritage apples are familiar to many Mainers, Fedco Trees’ current coordinator Jen Ries said there’s still work to do. Until everybody knows about heritage fruit and you can find it at any grocery store, the mission continues, she said.

Popular choices for Fedco customers today include the Black Oxford; Baldwin, one of New England’s oldest apples with origins in 1740s Massachusetts; and Northern Spy, an all-purpose from Connecticut first planted from a seed more than two centuries ago.

Estimates vary, but the United States likely had more than 7,000 such cultivars in the 19th century and probably has less than half that many today as commercial production focuses on favorites such as Granny Smith and Honeycrisp. More genetic diversity in plants means more resilience from weather, disease and pests, which disappears with extinction, according to numerous researchers, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Back in the early 1980s, local resources for Maine gardeners focused on vegetable production, according to Bunker. He thought people should have access to fruit education and tree stock too — plus, he had questions about their history.

He uncovered fruit names, history and characteristics through books, conferences, a booth at the Common Ground Country Fair, tracking down experts, finding mentors and, occasionally, knocking on a stranger’s door after driving by an interesting tree. Bunker estimates he’s spent hundreds of hours in orchards, botanical gardens and arboretums in Maine, Boston and New York.

He decided early on to make the catalog intelligent, honest, educational and focused on what he knew best — cold-hardy varieties growing in Maine.

If someone from Texas read it, he hoped they’d be inspired to start their own locally focused project. Heritage apple nurseries and preservation orchards exist across the country with a scattering of other “fruit detectives,” working independently and together in groups such as the Historic Fruit Tree Working Group.

The catalog grew, and a physical community did too around an annual in-person spring sale of discounted extra stock. That event was an equalizer, Bunker said, drawing businesspeople alongside homesteaders.

By 1994, his hobby had grown into a full-time job. Ries started working with him 22 years ago and took the lead at the tree division around 2020.

This year’s catalog has 170 apples and 650 listings, from cherries to groundcover plants to asparagus. Popular choices include the Madison Peach, Montmorency Cherry, Purple Heart Plum, American Elms and American Chestnuts, according to Ries, plus lilacs and cold-hardy heritage roses. The division sold more than 100,000 plants and trees last year.

Small local farms grow about three-quarters of this stock with mentorship from the company. Some have started their own nurseries.

Fedco also grows trees from farther south, such as the Chestnut Oak, with a native range from Georgia to southwestern Maine that’s now surviving farther east, and American Sycamore, which previously grew in the southern states and the central Midwest.

That’s in response to the way climate change is shifting growing conditions and bringing new pests, according to Ries. People are starting to plant southern species here to prepare for a warmer climate, a process called assisted migration.

The company also added a refrigeration system to keep its trees dormant through the winter, which they need to survive cold temperatures and grow successfully. In the past, it stayed cold enough to store them outside.

Things have changed on the commercial side of Maine’s apple landscape too, according to Renae Moran, a tree fruit specialist with the University of Maine. Twenty-five years ago, McIntosh, Red Delicious and Golden Delicious were dominant.

Honeycrisp, a patented fruit first sold in the late 1990s, is the focus for growers and the university’s research farm now, she said, along with other trademarked cultivars that growers are trialing themselves.

The university doesn’t have data for hobby growers, though she noted an increasing interest in hard cider. Moran said many farmstands carry heritage or antique apples, but sales are limited in comparison to commercial types.

Every year, Ries sees new customers be surprised by the variety of fruit that exists. She’s also seeing more new gardeners and people growing food in cities or suburbs, using the trees to feed their families, serve as memorials or mark life events.

Forty years in, Bunker comes across apple trees he sold that have grown large enough for grandchildren to climb on.

“It’s very personal for people to plant a tree,” Ries said.