By: Stan Jordan
All of this data on the history or the potato was given to me by Kathy Payton and I want to thank her for all of it:
The potato has its origins in the misty Andes Mountains of South America. There as far back as 500 B.C. the native peoples of Chile and Peru were cultivating the tubers. In 1565, the Spanish conquistadors brought the potatoes home to Spain. Within a couple of decades, potatoes were being grown all over Europe. According to legend, in 1588 potatoes first appeared in Ireland when they floated in from the wrecked ships of the Spanish Armada.
The potato soon became the staple food of both the native Irish and the Scotch-Irish. Praddies were easy to grow, tasty, and very nutritious. The potato became so associated with the Emerald Isle that they are frequently called “the Irish white potato.” In 1718, when the Reverend James MacGregor sailed to the British province of New Hampshire, he brought with him a sack of seed potatoes. These he planted in 1719 in the common field of colonial Derry. This, most believe, was the genesis of the massive potato industry in America.
There are, unfortunately, other claimants to the honor of being the birthplace of the potato in America. The most publicized has been that of the state of Virginia. It is said by some that in 1621 the potato was brought from Bermuda to Virginia and thus preempts us by nearly a century. Derry has, of course, always disputed this claim. We have long said that Virginia’s potatoes were probably just yams and even if they were white potatoes, they were brought to Virginia to be eaten, not to be cultivated.
In 1962, Perley I. Fitts, the New Hampshire commissioner of agriculture, received a letter from Parke Brinkley, the Virginia commissioner of agriculture. The southern gentleman wrote, “According to the best information that we can find, Irish Potatoes did not come to Virginia until after your 1719 incorporation. We therefore concede to the great state of New Hampshire, the honor of introducing to this country one of the great food crops.” Although the rival claim by Virginia has been successfully parried, there are other attacks on our preeminence, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolinas, and Canada all claim they raised potatoes sometime before 1700. The potato war goes on!
Today the only monument devoted to just the potato is in the former Soviet Union. The tater was brought to Russia in the eighteenth century by Czar Peter the Great. Soon the “ground apple” was a staple food in most peasant families and was sometimes called “the second bread.” During the World Wars, it saved millions from starvation. Its versatility as a food was much appreciated and potato vodka is a common beverage in the country. The monument at Novgorod is attached to a potato-shaped rock. Its inscription says, “Thank you, Columbus; thank you, Peter the Great, for our beloved vegetable.”
caption: This picture is on a plywood sign erected in 1962 commemorating the potato’s entrance into America.
See ya!
