Who was John Chapman?

In this 2 Minute Podcast episode, we ask: Who was John Chapman?

John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, became one of America’s most enduring folk legends. Popular stories portray him as a cheerful wanderer scattering apple seeds wherever he went. In reality, Chapman was a shrewd entrepreneur who built apple nurseries ahead of westward-moving settlers, then sold young trees and land as new communities formed.

And those apples were not grown mainly for pies or for eating fresh. Apples raised from seed often produced tart fruit, well suited for hard cider, a staple drink of frontier life. Chapman collected seeds from cider mills, planted carefully tended orchards across what are now Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, and created a thriving business along the expanding American frontier.

Behind the tin-pot-hat legend was a practical businessman who saw opportunity in America’s westward expansion, turning apple seeds into orchards, land, and lasting wealth.