Love blueberries? Thank this New Jersey bog

Elizabeth White’s Blueberry Partnership with New Jersey Pineys

In 1911, Elizabeth White struck a deal with local “Pineys” in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. She paid them up to $3 per wild blueberry bush with big berries, plus travel costs.

These forest experts used her metal gauges and jars to mark the best bushes within 20 miles of Whitesbog.

White then named each variety after its finder – Adams, Harding, Dunphy, and the famous Rubel bush found by Rube Leek. By 1916, these 100 wild bushes had grown into America’s first commercial blueberry crop.

Today, the Whitesbog Blueberry Festival draws over 5,000 visitors to the birthplace of cultivated blueberries.

A Cranberry Farmer’s Daughter Spots an Opportunity

Elizabeth Coleman White read a USDA paper about blueberry growing in 1910.

She learned that botanist Frederick Coville figured out how to grow blueberries but needed land for testing.

White thought blueberries would fit perfectly with her family’s cranberry business since they ripened in July, months before the September cranberry harvest.

She talked her father into letting Coville use empty land between their cranberry bogs for his tests. Most farmers then thought wild blueberries couldn’t be grown as crops.

Local Woodsmen Got Paid to Hunt for Berry Bushes

White came up with a smart plan to find the best wild blueberry plants.

She hired local Pine Barrens folks, called Pineys, to look for bushes with extra-large berries within 20 miles of Whitesbog. She paid them $1-3 for each good bush plus money for moving the plants back to the farm.

Each helper got a measuring tool, jars to save samples, and tags to mark good bushes. The Pineys knew different swamps grew different kinds of berries.

Forest Knowledge Beat Book Learning Every Time

The local woodsmen knew exactly where to find the best wild blueberry bushes throughout the Pine Barrens. White wrote that when they went into the woods, she stumbled around while trusting her Piney guides completely.

Even though city newspapers often called Pine Barrens people backward, White proudly said in 1914 that she was a Piney too.

These seasonal workers had picked wild blueberries every summer for years and sold them by the quart in Philadelphia.

Your Name on a Blueberry Became a Badge of Honor

White named each new blueberry variety after the person who found the original wild bush. This gave the Pineys both cash and lasting credit for their work.

Jim Adams found a bush that became the Adams variety. Ralph Harding found the Harding bush, and Theodore Dunphy found the Dunphy.

When Sam Lemmon found an excellent plant, White thought “Lemmon” sounded weird for a blueberry, so she called it Sam. Each bush got tagged by its finder before being dug up for Coville’s growing tests.

Rube Leek’s Find Became the Superstar Berry

Rube Leek from Chatsworth found what turned out to be the best bush of all. White didn’t think “Rube” sounded fancy enough, and “Leek” made people think of onions.

Coville suggested they add Leek’s last initial to Rube, creating the name “Rubel.”

This berry is still grown commercially today, more than 100 years later, and shows up in the family tree of most modern blueberry types.

Testing 100 Bushes Meant Burning Thousands More

Between 1911 and 1916, the Pineys found about 100 promising wild bushes from swamps and forests around Whitesbog.

White and Coville cut each bush into as many as 100 pieces and planted them under glass in special growing beds. Only about 10 percent of the plants lived through their tough tests.

They finally picked six varieties good enough for commercial growing: Rubel, Harding, Sam, Grover, Adams, and Dunphy.

The First Blueberry Crop Hits the Market

White and Coville picked their first grown blueberries in 1914 and sold the first commercial crop in 1916 under the brand name “Tru-Blu-Berries.”

Coville told the world about their success in the June 1916 issue of National Geographic.

White became the first person to package fruit in see-through cellophane, letting customers check the berries before buying.

Their work at Whitesbog started what grew into a billion-pound-per-year global blueberry business.

She Publicly Thanked Her Piney Partners

In 1916, White wrote openly about how much she owed to the Pineys who found the superior wild bushes. She admitted these local woodsmen knew the forest in ways she never could.

White moved to the Pine Barrens permanently and spoke up for its native plants and people.

Her respect for Piney forest skills stood out compared to city newspapers that often made fun of Pine Barrens residents as backward country folk.

The Birthplace of Blueberries Becomes a Historic Site

Whitesbog village now holds the world’s oldest test fields for tamed blueberries. Visitors can walk through rows of original blueberry bushes and tour Suningive, the home Elizabeth White built in 1923.

The village includes historic buildings like the general store, worker cottages, and cranberry processing buildings.

The nonprofit Whitesbog Preservation Trust takes care of the buildings, trails, and historic garden all year long.

Runners Started What Became a Major Festival

The Whitesbog Blueberry Festival began over 40 years ago as a small blueberry trail run with volunteers selling t-shirts and fresh berries.

The modest event slowly grew into one of southern New Jersey’s most popular old-time country festivals. Festival dates changed over the years to cover multiple Saturdays during the July blueberry harvest.

Early festival records show the 31st annual event happened in 2014, which means the first festival took place around 1983-1984.

Today’s Festival Draws Thousands to Celebrate Blueberries

The Blueberry Summer Fest now welcomes over 5,000 visitors to Whitesbog during harvest season each year.

People pick blueberries, listen to Pinelands folk music, eat blueberry pies and baked goods, and tour the historic village.

The festival raises money to fix and maintain buildings while supporting local blueberry farms and businesses.

Activities include wagon rides, people dressed in period clothing showing how things were done back then, craft sellers, and displays showing 40 years of festival history.

Visiting Cranberry Bog Nature Trails, New Jersey

You can explore Whitesbog at 120 W. Whitesbog Road in Browns Mills, where Elizabeth White worked with local Pineys from 1911-1916 to find the best wild blueberry bushes and create the world’s first cultivated varieties.

The village grounds are free and open dawn to dusk year-round. Walk multiple nature trails through 3,000 acres of cranberry bogs and blueberry fields.

The Blueberry Festival runs June 13-July 27, 2025, celebrating this 40-year tradition.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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