South Orchard [ View Interactive Version ]

Between 1769 and 1814 Jefferson planted as many as 1,031 fruit trees in his South Orchard. This orchard was about six acres. Here Jefferson planted eighteen varieties of apple, thirty-eight of peach, fourteen cherry, twelve pear, twenty-seven plum, four nectarine, seven almond, six apricot, and a quince.

The earliest plantings, before 1780, reflect the experimental orchard of a young man eager to import Mediterranean culture to Virginia, and included olives, almonds, pomegranates, and figs. However, the mature plantings after 1810 included mostly species and varieties that either thrived through the hot, humid summers and cold, rainy winters of central Virginia, such as seedling late-season peaches or Virginia cider apples, or else, Jefferson's favorite fancy fruits such as the Spitzenburg apple.

Restoration of the South Orchard began in 1981.