Thompson

Late Summer-Early Fall. Seed from Barre, Mass., Mercer, ME (Somerset County), 1816 Great confusion surrounds this apple that was introduced by John Thompson, the founder of Mercer. Some claim that Thompson is synonymous with the Massachusetts apple, Williams. Some call this apple Somerset of Maine. (See above Somerset of Maine for more confusion) Others think that the last Thompson tree may have been on the Corson Rd. in Mercer in the orchard of Arthur Johnson. Part of a tree was grafted with it. Those branches all died in 1996, but not until after we collected scion wood and grafted several trees. The wood was alive but in terrible shape. In 1997 I ate fruit from Francis Fenton's orchard in Mercer. He believes he has a true Thompson. There is another tree which also may be the true Thompson on the Bacon Rd. in Mercer on the farm of Chris Holt. Other trees that may be Thompson are scattered here and there around central Maine. The large fruit is ripe in August and is solid red with stripes of darker red. The shape is distinctly conic, somewhat similar to Red Delicious, Williams and Porter. It is a very attractive, decent fresh eating fruit.