The Endicott Pear Tree, located at 100 Endicott Street in Danvers, Massachusetts, is believed to be the oldest living cultivated fruit tree in North America.
Tradition states that the tree was planted by John Endicott sometime between 1632 and 1638, making Endicott one of the first colonists to cultivate fruit in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
The tree is a European Pear tree that was planted in Endicott’s orchard on his farm in Danvers. Endicott was awarded the 300 acres of land for his farm on July 3, 1632, making it the first land grant awarded by the General Court.
Endicott began cultivating the land, planting many apple and pear trees, which he imported from England, and named it “Orchard Farm.” This pear tree is the only tree that has survived.
18th Century:
The Endicott Pear Tree survived a terrible storm in 1770. On September 21, 1796, Reverend William Bentley of Salem visited Endicott’s original farm, which had been renamed New Mills, and mentioned the tree in his diary entry:
“This place was called the Governor’s Orchard as he planted early trees around his house. There is only one tree left which bears the Sugar Pear, and by tradition was planted in 1630. It is in front of the site of the house, it rises on three trunks from the ground, and is considerably high. It is much decayed at bottom, but the branches at top are sound. I brought away some of the pears, and engaged such as remained to be brought to my house to send to the Governor of the Commonwealth [Samuel Adams].”
19th Century:
The Endicott Pear Tree was damaged in the Storm of October 1804, during which it lost many of its branches and its trunk split, but it recovered and produced many bushels of fruit.
In a letter dated October 10, 1809, Reverend Bentley wrote that Governor Endicott had erected a copper sundial near the tree with an engraving that reportedly indicated the tree’s age, the maker of the sundial, and the governor’s initial. The dial’s inscription read, “William Boyer, London, Clockmaker, fecit, 1. 1630. E.” (Lincoln 31.)
Yet, Endicott wasn’t granted the land that the tree is located on until the summer of 1632, so it is highly unlikely the tree was planted before 1633 or 1634, after the land was cleared and the soil was prepped for planting.
In 1810, Bentley visited the farm again and was given some twigs from the tree by Captain John Endicott for President John Adams. Adams planted them in his garden and later wrote to Bentley to tell him about the “several young Endicott’s” growing in his garden.
In September of 1815, a heavy gale once again damaged the tree, breaking and splitting almost all of its branches. A wooden fence was finally constructed around the tree to prevent cattle from grazing on it in 1832.
In 1837, Reverend Dr. John Brazen of Salem described the tree as “rather dwarfish, being only 18 feet high, and 55 feet in the circumference of its branches. The trunk exhibits all the marks of extreme old age, being entirely hollow, and mostly open on the south side, with just sufficient bark to convey the sap to the branches.” (Lincoln 32.)
In 1843, the Endicott Pear Tree was damaged by yet another hurricane but survived.
By 1875, the tree stood 80 feet tall. In 1890, a poet named Lucy Larcom wrote a poem about the tree for Arbor Day and titled it “The Governor’s Tree.”
20th Century:
In 1919, author James Raymond Simmons visited and photographed the tree for his book Historic Trees of Massachusetts and described it as such:
“there is not much left of beauty or comeliness about the venerable tree which still maintains its layer of living bark from year to year around a hollow trunk, and still drops down its golden fruit into the laps of Endicott’s grateful descendants and admirers.” (Simmons 66-67)
Simmons went on to describe the tree’s surroundings:
“Soil has gradually collected about the trunk until the two main branches appear to rise from the ground as separate trees. They evidently join under a heavy covering of sod. Surrounding them is a fence which acts as an effective barrier. When the author photographed the tree it was covered with green fruit.” (Simmons 67-68)
In 1938, the tree was damaged during the famous New England Hurricane of 1938, during which a part of the tree fell and took down the fence surrounding it. Fortunately, a part of the tree was still connected with the roots, and it was saved.
In 1946, the owner of the tree, Mr. Simard, who had acquired the property from George Endicott in 1941, stripped the tree of its soil, leaving the tree exposed, in response to the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry’s attempts to acquire possession of the tree.
During a town meeting in 1946, the town of Danvers passed a resolution to purchase the property that the tree is located on but failed to do so when the town councilmen and Simard couldn’t agree on the terms of the acquisition.
In the early 1950s, Simard deeded the property to North Shore Industries, who then sold the property to CBS-Hytron in 1952.
Soon after, CBS-Hytron built a large industrial plant on the property but also erected a wooden fence around the tree to protect it. Ownership of the property later transferred to Matchlett Laboratories and then to Osram Sylvania.
In 1958, the tree survived yet another terrible storm. On July 27, 1964, vandals tried to destroy the tree by cutting off all of its branches and much of its trunk using hacksaws.
In response, the property owners, Sylvania Electric Products, Inc., installed a chain-link fence and barbed wire around the tree and asked the town’s Shade Tree Department and the Essex Agricultural School to help restore the tree.
The company also instructed its security team to include the tree in their daily security checks around the plant. In July of 1965, the Danvers Herald reported that the tree was regrowing and rejuvenating itself. In 1972, the tree began producing fruit for the first time in many seasons.
21st Century:
In 2004, the property was acquired by North Shore Medical Center. The Danvers Historical Society, the Danvers Preservation Commission, and Richard B. Trask of the Peabody Institute Library presented a list of conservation concerns regarding the tree to the medical center.
The medical center responded by replacing the chain-link fence with a wrought iron fence and hiring a tree care service to look after it.
In 2009, a permanent display about the tree was installed in the lobby of the medical center. In 2011, a historic marker by the Gov. John Endecott Chapter of the NSCDA was erected in the parking lot near the tree, which describes the tree as “a living link to the earliest European settlers of our nation” and “a symbol of heritage, strength and resilience.” Also, in 2011, the Endicott Pear Tree was declared a National Landmark.
In 2012, a scion from the Endicott Pear Tree was planted a few hundred feet from the tree, in the hospital’s healing garden, and has grown into a small pear tree.
Sources:
Lincoln, William. “Endicott Pear Tree.” An Address Delivered Before the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Dutton and Wentworth, 1837, pp. 30-34
Simmons, James Raymond. The Historic Trees of Massachusetts. Marshall Jones Company, 1919.
Tapley, Harriet Silvester. Chronicles of Danvers (old Salem Village) Massachusetts, 1632-1923. Danvers Historical Society, 1923.
Forman, Ethan. The Oldest of Pear Trees Bears Fruit. Salem News, 1 Oct. 2013, salemnews.com/news/local_news/this-oldest-of-pear-trees-bears-fruit/article_148de3a7-471f-5d0c-a8f4-861afad72ba5.html
“The Endicott Pear Tree, Still Alive in Massachusetts After Nearly 400 Years.” New England Historical Society, newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/endicott-pear-tree-still-alive-massachusetts-nearly-400-years/
Dunavin, Davis. “Herb Lore: The nearly 400-year-old fruit tree that keeps giving.” WSHU, 12 April. 2022, wshu.org/2022-04-27/herb-lore-the-400-year-old-fruit-tree-that-keeps-giving
“The Endecott Pear Tree.” Historical Marker Database, hmdb.org/m.asp?m=260593
“The Endecott Pear Tree.” Historical Marker Database, hmdb.org/m.asp?m=46192
Trask, Richard B. What a Pear: A Brief History of the Endecott Pear Tree. Danvers Archival Center, danverslibrary.org/archive/what-a-pear/
“A Heritage Preserved.” The Morning Record [Meriden]. 9 Mar. 1973, p. 16