Did you know that Edgewood School is built on the site of an apple orchard? The school’s technology teacher Mr. Tomizawa documents this piece of history on his own blog, Edgewood Snapshots. Here’s what he writes:

Edgewood’s Orchard
By Paul Tomizawa

Edgewood School opened its doors 100 years ago in an apple orchard on the Cudner-Weed estate, pictured above. 

How fortunate for the teachers — an endless supply of apples! But according to Edgewood’s first principal, Mary Piedalue, the kids may have enjoyed life in an orchard the most. She once recalled that “when the apples fell into the children’s hands, they made wonderful ammunition.”

Carl Schorske, one of Edgewood’s first students, also remembered those apples. When he visited Edgewood in 2008, he told us that students gorged themselves on the Russet apples, also known as “rusty coats” for its skin texture and brownish color.

By the late 20th century, these apples were gone from the Edgewood campus. But a few years ago, we started a comeback. A team of Edgewood historians and environmentalists, made up of staff and students, gathered in front of our school and planted a tree. An apple tree.

This post first appeared on Mr. Tomizawa’s blog, Edgewood Snapshots.