Johnny Appleseed

This passage tells the story of Johnny Appleseed.

Lexile Level: 910L

Categories: History People & Places Fantasy

Johnny Appleseed was born in Massachusetts in 1774. His real name was John Chapman. When he was about 25, Johnny became a nurseryman, or someone who works with plants. Johnny especially liked to grow apple trees and planted them in western New York and Pennsylvania. He liked to explore new places for growing apple trees. He moved to the Great Lakes area, which is now the states of Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana. The settlers there called him Johnny Appleseed, or sometimes the Apple Tree Man, because he walked through the wilderness with a bag of apples on his back. He carried a cooking pot, which some people said he wore on his head! When he found a good spot, Johnny cleared the land by hand and planted neat rows of apple seeds. Then he fenced them in to keep animals out. He also sold apple trees to settlers for only a few pennies or gave them away to the poor. Johnny traveled around for 50 years planting apple trees until he died at the age of 70. He is buried in Fort Wayne, Indiana.