John Chapman, who became well-known in his lifetime as “Johnny Appleseed”, was an itinerant nurseryman/orchardist in the early 1800s. Like many old historical figures, the myths and legends about him are hard to separate from the reality. He lived a rough outdoors life like many pioneers, and was known to often sleep in the woods and go barefoot. He dressed poorly in old clothes and wore a tin cooking pot as a hat.

As a young man he had apprenticed to an orchardist who grew apples, which started his life-long promotion of apples, traveling extensively throughout Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, and as far north as Canada. Unlike the myth of his randomly scattering appleseeds wherever he went, he actually planted and started innumerable fenced-in nurseries of apple trees, leaving them in the care of neighbors and returning often to tend to them.

Though there is even debate about where he is actually buried, the most likely place is the public marker in Johnny Appleseed Park/Archer Park, in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, which used to be part of the Archer family farm. As you can see from the above photo, many people leave small wild apples on his grave. On one occasion, no doubt in a fit of lunacy, a banana was also left in tribute.