SOME HISTORY OF THE GRAPE IN THE UNITED 



STATES. 



By George C. Husmann, Washington, D. C. 



Delivered before the Society, with stereopticon illustrations, February 19, 



1916. 



Sacred and profane history say the grape has ever accompanied 

 civilization and was perhaps the very first of fruits cultivated by 

 man, and has been his best stand-by ever since, improving with 

 him and yielding finer fruit, better products, and a greater variety 

 of them as the years pass by. 



In this country records show that considerable wine was pro- 

 duced from native grapes in Florida in 1564. In 1607 Pale had 

 established a vineyard of three acres at Henrico, North Carolina. 

 In 1616 Lord Delaware urged the London Company to promote 

 grape culture in Virginia, resulting in sending in 1619 for such 

 purpose expert vine dressers and a collection of the best varieties 

 of French grapes. Acts to promote grape growing were passed 

 by the Assembly in 1619, 1623, and 1639. Wine was also made 

 in Virginia in 1647, and in 1651 premiums were offered for its 

 production. 



John Winthrop, Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, had 

 planted a vineyard on Governor's Island, in Boston Harbor before 

 1630. In 1633 William Penn attempted to establish a vineyard 

 near Philadelphia. Attention to vine culture was given by English 

 settlers in Uvedale, niow Delaware, in 1648. In Maryland, Lord 

 Baltimore is said to have planted 300 acres of land to vines. 

 Charles II, in 1663, sought to encourage viticulture in Rhode Island 

 by offering inducements to the colonists to grow grapes and make 

 wine. In 1664 Col. Richard Nicoll, Governor of New York, 

 granted to Paul Richard a privilege of making and selling wine free 

 from all duty, he having been the first to enter upon the cultivation 

 of the vine on a large scale. In 1710 Alexander Spotswood, Gover- 

 nor of Virginia, brought over a colony of German grape growers and 



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