Bartram's Cider Press

Bartram's Garden is a 44 acre estate on the banks of the Skuylkill River in Southwest Philadelphia, which serves as a museum, a botanical garden & arboretum, and an educational center. All of the lands around it are now old, largely abandoned industrial tracts and tired residential neighborhoods. It was the home of the naturalist John Bartram, who settled here in the early 1730s. With a desire for hard cider and with skill in stone carving, he created a cider press along the river bank at an unknown date during the following few decades.

Bartram's website informs us that the foundation, carved in bedrock formed the base of the cider press. Apples were placed in the circular trench and crushed by a revolving wooden wheel. A small hole allowed juice to drain into a round reservoir. Pomace was gathered from the trench and drawn into a wooden press that sat on the square foundation carved in the bedrock. It may be the only one of its kind surviving in North America.

This wonderful place is about one mile from my doorstep and I become more fond of it with every visit I make.