everett cunningham

Everett Cunningham was the name of the old-timer who lived in a small farm house in Hibbert’s Gore between the towns of Palermo, Washington and Somerville, ME. The apple of the same name is a large, old seedling that emerges from the foundation in the back of Everett’s house. That seedling probably dates from about 1900 and was fermented into a locally famous cider for many years. Karen Keller, the owner of the home and tree for the past few decades, brought us fruit from the tree in 2014 along with fruit from a second old tree in her front yard that she refers to as “Grandfather.” Apparently the two apples were Everett’s preferred cider apples. Betty Glidden, who grew up next door to Everett, told Karen, "Why we just always called them Old Everett’s Cider Apples…People came from as far as Newport to buy Everett's cider.” We had the tree DNA profiled (AMHO 314), and the results identified it as being closely related to the famous apple, Reinette Franche.

The fruit is small-medium sized, roundish-oblate, and yellow-skinned with a large russet patch that fills the cavity and spills out over the sides. It closely resembles the English Bittersweet called Silver Cup. It’s astringent, not very bitter and mildly sharp, with a 1050 SG.

We’ve used the apples from the Gore tree in our cider. We harvest Everett Cunningham in late October. The apples will store in the root cellar until June—if you don’t press them first. We obtained our scionwood from Karen’s old tree and are excited to have it growing in our test orchard. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.