Johnny Appleseed

Johnny Appleseed, born John Chapman, was an American nurseryman and missionary who planted and distributed apple nurseries across parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. Later legend transformed his commercial frontier work and Swedenborgian faith into an image of gentle wilderness wandering.

Tracy Chevalier’s At the Edge of the Orchard is set in 1838, James and Sadie Goodenough struggle to keep their family alive on a swampy farm in north-western Ohio.