Category: Naturalist

Elizabeth Coleman White: Blueberry Queen of the Jersey Pines

Elizabeth Coleman White picking blueberries in 1920.
In the second decade of the 20th century, New Jersey Pinelands farmer Elizabeth Coleman White was the first to cultivate the blueberry on a commercial scale. Today, the U.S. industry she launched annually harvests 690 million pounds of berries from across half a million planted acres.

Hammonton, New Jersey, is the Blueberry Capital of the Garden State. Once upon a time, sixteen-year-old Kellyanne Fitzpatrick Conway was crowned Blueberry Pageant Princess. And we all know Fats Domino found his thrill on Blueberry Hill. But were it not for Elizabeth Coleman White, none of that would have happened.

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Lydia Pinkham : Savior of Her Sex or Savvy Huckster?

At a time when opportunities for women were tightly restricted, Lydia Pinkham began making and selling medicinal herbal brews from her kitchen and then built that business into a multimillion dollar marketing empire of female medicinal products.

For almost 100 years, this Wednesday’s Woman was the most recognized face in America. A savvy businesswoman, a shrewd marketer, and the self-declared Savior of Her Sex, she was Lydia Estes Pinkham who was to women’s health products what John Wanamaker was to department stores.

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