Duxbury Cranberry Histor
Small wild cranberries are native to the entire northeastern seacoast, but were not considered an agricultural crop until about 1816 when Henry Hall of North Dennis, on Cape Cod, found that by adding sand to the soil where cranberries grew, he could make the berries grow faster, larger, and taste better.
Duxbury, with its industry-leading shipbuilding business was a great partner in the distribution
of the cranberries. Duxbury had many sailing ships on the high seas which provided a market
for the commercial cultivation of cranberries. They were stored in waterfilled barrels in the cool
holds of ships. The berries would stay fresh for months and with the addition of sugar and
boiling water, cranberry sauce was an easy food source. Interest was further bolstered in the
late 1800's when it became known that eating cranberries, high in vitamin C, could prevent scurvy.
In many large wetland areas of Duxbury, the marks of ditches and dikes are visable evidence that
a bog was built there years ago.
In 1927, F.M. Leonard of the Clearbrook Cranberry Company, built the first of these bogs in Duxbury.
Leonard's superintendent, Jim Chase, managed the bog. Edgar W. Loring and his family took over
the operations after Chase's untimely death three years later. Ed Loring soon enlarged the bog and
its adjacent reservoir (next to Route 3). The reservoir, taking its name form adjoining Golden Farm,
became known as the Golden Reservoir. The Loring Bogs as many old-timers still call them,
employed eight to ten year-round workers. At harvest time, the work force swelled to as many as 75.
In Duxbury, It's The Berries
The wild cranberry, in the same family as blueberries, wintergreen, rhododendron, azalea, and
bearberry, are mainly evergreen shrubs with drooping, pink flowers that love acidic soil. These plants
are the typical vegatation of open moors, damp, low lying areas. The American cranberry is one of
only three fruits native to North America; the others being the blueberry and the Concord grape.
Today there are more than 100 varieties of cranberry.
The cranberry vines on Duxbury bogs are a mix of two types of berries, Early Black and Howes.
The Early Black berries are by far the most common and a standard in Massachusetts and New
Jersey. They are a small, deep red berry that ripens as early as late August. It has fine flavor
and is known as a good keeper. These berries are sold fresh and because of the dark color are
excellent for juice. The berries were first cultivated about 1850 in Harwich. It is not a developed
berry, but a direct descendant of the wild Cape Cod cranberry. The Howes cranberry is the
standard late cranberry grown in Massachusetts and New Jersey. It was first grown in 1843 by
Eli Howes of East Dennis. It is kind of an oblong, medium red, and larger than the Early Black.
Sold fresh and high in pectin, it makes good jelly and sauce. Early Blacks and Howes together are
grown more than all other varieties.
The Duxbury Bogs cranberry vines are at least 100 years old. When a new bog was made, the
owners would cut some vines from teh older bogs and plant them in the new bog. These vines
would take root and spread to cover the new bog. Each bog may have come from an original vine
that is more than 100 years old.
Cranberries Today
Our town is blessed with the ingredients making it ideal for cranberry growing; many swamps and
an abundance of fresh water, replenished by rainfall in excess of 48 inches per year and acidic
peat soil in which cranberries thrive. The application of readily-available sand keeps the root
systems from being bound together, and the cool, dry temperatures during growing season help
keep the fruit from scalding.
In 1937, 25 Duxbury growers produced a crop of approximately 11,800 barrels (each barrel is
equivalent to about 100 pounds) on about 600 acres. At the present time, approximately 12
growers in the produce about 32,000 barrels on about 300 acres. The Conservation Commission
currently owns three of the bogs; Cherry Lane, Duxbury Bogs, and Matthews Bog. There are a
total of 49 acres of actual bogs on over 250 acres. In the year 2000, about 1,915 barrels of
cranberries were picked from two of the three bogs. In an eight-year period, the general fund of
the town was supplemented by about $1,000,000 from these working bogs.
Our bogs bring us benefits. The bog pond are stocked with fish. Both ponds and bogs attrack
a variety of wildlife and help maintain the water table essential to Duxbury's domestic water supply.
Duxbury Bogs also provide an excellent walking area with scenic open vistas and superb bird
watching in a setting that is found in few places outside New England.
Cranberry Connection
Come amble along a winding dirt road or a grassy dike and enjoy delightful vistas across Duxbury's
owncranberry bogs. Duxbury Bogs formerly known as Loring Bogs, is a diverse parcel of
cranberry bog, wetland and upland. It was purchased for the town in August of 1971 to preserve
one of the last forms of agriculture in Duxbury. The area contains 39 acres of working bog on 191
acres of conservation land. Thirty-five acres of this land is made up of the reservoirs used for
water retention in the production of cranberries. The flooding of the bogs protects the vines from
frost and freezing weather and destroys insect pests and intolerant weeds. Theh remaining 100+
acres re mostly upland with rolling topography and small pockets of wetlands and transition areas.
There are many sand pits called borrow pits, from which sand is taken for use in cranberry
culitvation. The bogs are operated by contracted cranberry companies under the jurisdiction of the
Conservation Commission. Visitors should be aware that because this is a working bog there are
agricultural chemicals used in the cultivation of the fruit. As a result of this, at times the property
is posted and closed to visitors. Please obey the posting.
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