(Baldwin Apple Monument), (sculpture).

(Baldwin Apple Monument), (sculpture).

Unknown, sculptor.

(Baldwin Apple Monument), (sculpture).

ca. 1895. Installed 1895.

Sculpture: granite.

Sculpture: approx. 1 x 1 x 1 ft.; Base: approx. 8 ft. 10 in. x 2 ft. 1 in. x 1 ft. 4 in.

(Front of base, incised lettering:) THIS MONUMENT/MARKS THE SITE OF THE FIRST/BALDWIN APPLE TREE/FOUND GROWING WILD NEAR HERE./IT FELL IN THE GALE OF 1815/THE APPLE FIRST KNOWN AS THE/BUTTERS. WOODPECKER/OR PECKER APPLE/WAS NAMED AFTER/COL. LOAMMI BALDWIN/OF WOBURN/--/ERECTED IN 1895/BY THE/RUMFORD HISTORICAL/ASSOCIATION (Side of base, incised lettering:) EXACT SPOT/340 FEET WEST/(arrow sign pointing right)/10 NORTH unsigned

Sculpture of a very large Baldwin apple mounted upon a tall, rough-edged base.

Object -- Fruit -- Apple

Outdoor Sculpture -- Massachusetts -- Wilmington

Town of Wilmington, Parks and Grounds Department, Andover Street, Wilmington, Massachusetts 01887

Located Chestnut Street/Marian Street Extension, near Butters Row, Wilmington, Massachusetts

This monument erected in 1895 by the Rumford Historical Association of Woburn honors the Baldwin apple found growing nearby on the farm of William Butters. Tradition has it that the apple tree was first discovered by Mr. Butters who was attracted to it by the sound of woodpeckers hammering on it, thus the apple was known as the Pecker or Woodpecker apple, and later the Butters apple. In 1793, Samuel Thompson of Woburn sampled the apples and took home some scions, giving them to a neighbor, Colonel Loammi Baldwin, who cultivated the apple tree extensively and gave the apple his name. Over the years the apple has been known as the Butters apple, the Woodpecker or Pecker apple, and finally the Baldwin apple. The inscription on the side of the base gives directions to the exact location of the first tree, which fell in a gale in 1815. The inscription was renewed in 1974.

IAS files contain excerpts from Adele C. Passmore's "Selected Eighteenth Century Wilmington Historical Sites," Wilmington, MA: Wilmington Historical Commission, 1976; and "Wilmington Massachusetts: Its Growth and Progress, 1730-1930," from the Wilmington Massachusetts 200th Anniversary Committee.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Massachusetts survey, 1994.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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