The Origins of Sweet Mountain Bing Cherries

Sweet mountain Bing cherries are for many fruit lovers, the epitome of summer fruit. However, prior to the late 1800s, Bing cherries did not exist. Were it not for a very treacherous trip from Iowa to Oregon over a hundred years ago, we would not be able to enjoy the delicious taste of sweet mountain Bing cherries today

While the origins of today’s sweet mountain Bing cherries are not fully known, the legend as to how they got their name goes something like this: Back in 1847 a Quaker nurseryman, named Henderson Lewelling decided to head west from his home in Salem, Iowa, in the hopes of reaching Oregon. Lewelling left Iowa with his wife, Elizabeth, their eight children, and a specially built wagon containing 700 grafted fruit trees. Unknown to Lewelling at the time, many of his fruit trees would become the progenitors of Bing and other varieties of cherries.

The Lewellings set out on the Oregon Trail with two other Quaker families, the Hockettes and the Fishers. The entire party consisted of a train of seven wagons, including the trees. Along the way, they hoped to travel with others, but friction developed over the trees. The tree wagon was extremely heavy and therefore very slow. The pioneers believed that it would attract unwanted attention from Native Americans, which made them nervous and they forged ahead. However, what was thought to be a problem, was actually a blessing for the Lewelling party. Henderson Lewelling was later told that Native Americans viewed the trees as sacred and considered that the wagon filled with trees was under the protection of the Great Spirit. Whether or not this was true, there was not “Indian trouble” for the Lewellings. In fact, there were several instances where the Native Americans helped the party on their journey.

In order to make it to their destination, the party had to shoot the powerful and dangerous Columbia River cascades. The Native Americans were happy to help

by retrieving a runaway boat that missed the take out point and was headed for danger. Over the course of the journey, Henderson and Elizabeth lost almost half of their trees, but gained a child and many Native American friends. With those approximately 350 trees, Lewelling began what was to become one of the largest industries in the Pacific northwest.

Henderson’s brother, Seth, joined him in the nursery business and by the late 1850s, the family had four locations and over 100,000 fruit trees. Seth employed a Chinese foreman named Ah Bing. Ah Bing worked for the Lewellings for many years. In 1889, he went to China to visit his family for a visit and was unable to come back to the United States due to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Whether Bing was responsible for developing the cultivar or Seth Lewelling named it in his honor due to his long service, is unknown. What we do know, however, is that sweet mountain Bing cherries are delicious!