NORTH CAROLINA'S OFFICIAL STATE FRUIT
The Scuppernong (vitis rotundifolia) is a variety of muscadine grape, and has the distinction of being the first grape ever actively cultivated in the United States. It was named for the Scuppernong River, which runs from Washington County to the Albemarle Sound.
The scuppernong is a greenish, or bronze, variety of muscadine. At first it was simply called the Big White Grape. The name Scuppernong originally comes from an Algonquin Indian name, Ascopo, for the sweet bay tree. Ascupernung, meaning place of the Ascopo, appears on early maps of North Carolina as the name of a river in Washington County that runs into the Albemarle Sound. By 1800s, the spelling of the river had become Scuppernong. Soon the name of the town and river came to be applied to the grapes grown in the area. In this roundabout fashion, ascopo, the Algonquin word for sweet bay tree became scuppernong, the word for a variety of wild grape.
ABOUT THE MOTHER VINE
North Carolina is also home to one of the oldest producing grapevines in America. During the 17th and 18th centuries cuttings of the mother vine were placed into production around Scuppernong, the small town in North Carolina described above.
Giovanni de Verrazano noticed this variety as far back as 1524, and explorers for Sir Walter Raleigh (or Ralegh, as it's sometimes spelled) in the 1580's sent back reports from the Outer Banks of grape vines that "…covered every shrub and climbed the tops of high cedars. In all the world, a similar abundance was not to be found." The Roanoke colonists are credited with discovering the Scuppernong "Mother Vineyard," a vine that is now over 400 years old and covers half an acre.
Located at the northern end of Roanoke Island, the Mother Vine and its grapes may have been among those that Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe spotted in 1584 during their American expedition, sponsored by Sir Walter Raleigh. Having already toured the most abundant grape-growing regions of Europe, the explorers observed that North Carolina was “so full of grapes, as the very beating and surge of the Sea overflowed them. . . .” and pointed out that “in all the world the like abundance is not to be found.”
What the two saw was probably the agricultural work of Croatoans, who reportedly made wine from the white grape or vitis rotundifolia. These grapes undoubtedly provided sustenance for the early settlers of the Lost Colony.
When Ralph Lane served as Governor of Roanoke Island (1585), the settlement was divided between “planters” and “the colony.” The planters unquestionably cultivated grapes where the Mother Vine now stands.
The actual age of the mother vine has been disputed, although it probably dates from historical evidence for the large vine that dates no farther back than the 1720s. Then, Peter Baum, a Swiss-German vinter and former resident of New Bern, received a land grant for the area on which the Mother Vine now grows. A descendent, Solomon Baum (1813-1898) recalled that in his childhood the vine was the biggest on the island and that he heard his father and grandfather recall the largeness of the vine during their childhoods. This indicates that the vine had been cultivated by Native Americans long before. No one really knows for sure just how old the mother vine really is.
In the spring of 2010 the mother vine suffered damage at the hands of a contractor hired by Dominion Power company to clear weeds from the property where it grows. The damage was caught in time and even though she was sprayed with a powerful herbicide, the owner of the property where the mother lives is confident that the damage was caught in time and that proper actions were taken to save this centuries old heirloom plant that is such a part of the history of North Carolina.
Below are pictures of scuppernongs harvested from vines the grew from cuttings from the mother vine. The vines belong to a family friend who was kind enough to let me pick these . The vines are now about 25 years old. These grapes are sweet, with a slightly musky overtone and are quite delicious. They are smaller than many other scuppernongs and are about the same size as white table grapes. Scuppernongs and muscadines are harvested from late August until frost in this part of N.C.
