Cranberries: New England's Bounty

Join us to hear Anthony Sammarco delve into the history of cranberries. Registration recommended but not required.

Native Americans introduced European settlers to cranberries near what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts. The name cranberry derives from the German kraanbere (English translation, craneberry), first named as cranberry in English by the Reverend John Eliot of Roxbury in 1647. The humble cranberry was used as a versatile fruit for food, dye, as well as medicine. The settlers learned to harvest wild cranberries and came to rely on them for nutrients and for bartering with their Native American neighbors. By the late 18th century, they were used to cure scurvy and by the 20th century cranberries were big business from juice as well as sauce and would become inseparable from turkey at Thanksgiving.

Anthony M. Sammarco is a noted historian and author of over seventy books on the history and development of Boston, and he lectures widely on

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