Esopus Spitzenburg

Esopus Spitzenburg is recorded as growing on Orcas by 1891, we have located trees still growing in orchards on San Juan, including the old Bellevue Farm orchard near Roche Harbor on San Juan Island (and scions are available through our annual scion exchange and grafting workshops on Lopez, Orcas, and San Juan).  This variety originated in New York prior to 1776. It is the parent of the King apple variety, and shares a similar flavor, but is smaller and keeps better. The apples are medium, long conical, and yellow with red stripes. It is famously a favorite apple of Thomas Jefferson. Esopus Spitzenburg is reportedly partially self-fertile. Before it was identified through genetic fingerprinting we distributed this variety under the provisional name "Everlasting".

You can view watercolors of Esopus Spitzenburg in the USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection.