One of North America’s oldest apple trees found on Maine island

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 4, 2025

A rare, historically significant French apple tree recently discovered on a Verona Island farm is one of the oldest in North America. Called the Drap d’Or de Bretagna, the cultivar came from the Brittany region of France and was likely brought to Maine by Castine’s early French settlers in the late 1600s. The tree, believed to be a direct descendant of early plantings, was rediscovered by a group of local “apple explorers.”