Then and Now: Baldwin Apple Monument

A well known sight in Wilmington, The Baldwin Apple Monument stands at what is now the corner of Chesnut Street and Emery Lane.  Erected in 1895 by the Rumford Historical Association in Woburn, the monument celebrates the Baldwin Apple, a mutant apple very similar in taste to a Mackintosh, which was originally discovered growing wild on Butters Farm.

Over the years the name and history of the apple have changed nearly as much as the landscape surrounding the monument.

Originally named the “Butter’s Woodpecker Apple” the name was quickly shortened to “Pecker Apple” and finally changed to “Baldwin Apple” in honor of Col. Loammi Baldwin of Woburn.  Col. Baldwin was active in the revolutionary war and, later, became the first Superintendent of the Middlesex Canal.

The original wording on the monument, seen in the first picture, credited Samuel Thompson with discovering the apple in 1793 while surveying for The Middlesex Canal. It was later learned that the apple was already in use by the year 1785 and, therefore, Mr. Thompson was not truly the first to find it.

Soon after that new development the Rumford Historical Association met and decided that the wording on the monument would need to be changed.  A mere sixty seven years later, in 1975, the change was actually made.

Today the inscription reads, “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. Baldwin of Woburn, there is documentary evidence that the apple was brought into prominence as early as 1784.”