Circa 1916 Propagation Shelters at Whitesbog

Whitesbog LOST!
Once Elizabeth C. White and Frederick V. Coville selected the best bushes from the thousands grown in the Triangle Field they had to be propagated so a uniform crop of blueberries could be produced. The cloned bushes were grown at Whitesbog as well as sold through the J.J. White Conservation Nursery to growers that would establish fields of domesticated blueberries across America.

1916 Blueberry Culture
F.V. Coville

Click Here to see aerial photograph of Propagation Complex and it's relationship to the Triangle Field.

Click Here for 1936 Whitesbog Conservation Nursery.

The Whitesbog Post Office

Click Here for Taming the Wild Blueberry Chronology

The Whitesbog Post Office was approved by the Post Master General in 1923 to handle all the mail coming and going from Whites Bog related to growing the High Bush Blueberry. Click Here to receive one of the fliers sent from J.J. White Inc. in the 1920s.

The Whitesbog Post Office is one of many in Pemberton, Click Here to checkout.

The home of Stanley Coville in New Lisbon, New Jersey

Dr. Stanley Coville was one of the 1927 founding directors of the Blueberry Cooperative Association. He was also the son of Frederick and Elizabeth Coville. Frederick V. Coville initiated the domestication of the highbush blueberry with his research published in Experiments with Blueberry Culture (1910). Stanley like his mother and father were graduates of Cornell University. In 1931 Stanley was elected to the Rotary Club of Pemberton. Click here for more information.

Aerial Photograph of the Village of Rome at Whitesbog

Click Here to view an aerial photograph of the Village of Rome in 2007

The rectangle that Suningive sits on in this 1930 vintage aerial photograph is the remains of the original Highbush Blueberry Test Field.

The Blueberry Cooperative, home of TRU-BLU in New Lisbon, N.J.

Click here to read about the Blueberry Cooperative Story.

Click Here for more images of the Blueberry Cooperative

Remains of the greenhouse in the propagation complex at Whitesbog Village

Click Here to see a Vintage Whitesbog photograph of the greenhouse and Miss Elizabeth White. In this view you are facing the Cranberry Substation and the Triangle Field.

Click Here to see a 1946 interior view of the greenhouse containing flats of blueberry seedlings and to read article about Miss Elizabeth White's work to cross blueberry varieties to find better bushes.

Click Here to visit the 1916 Propagation Shelter probably located behind the Greenhouse.


Blueberry Domestication Tour
The Propagation Complex at Whitesbog consisted of several acres of blueberry propagation beds, two green houses and a heating plant powered by coal. High bush blueberries like the Pioneer selected from the Triangle Field across the street, were mass produced here through cloning. These plants were then sold to farmers who wanted to produce blueberries that were uniform in size, color and taste. Selling blueberry bushes was much more profitable than selling the berries. Thousands of bushes were shipped to the country from nearby Upton Railroad Station. Click Here to see the Station and explore the rails in Pemberton and beyond.

Whitesbog Conservation Nursery
J.J. White Inc. sold acid soil loving plants such as holly, Pine Barren Gentian and Climbing Fern grown in the propagation complex.

Learn More
You Tube video of site.

Click Here for Taming the Wild Blueberry Chronology

Click Here for F.V. Coville's 1916 Blueberry Culture

Click Here to read about the Whitesbog Conservation Nursery in the HALS Study.

November 27, 2011

1930 Aerial view of the Triangle Field at Whitesbog.

The Triangle Field and Blueberry Propagation Area

View of Triangle Field as entering Whitesbog Village from Florence

The Pioneer high bush blueberry was discovered here by Elizabeth C. White and Frederick V. Coville. This bush was the first commercially available domesticated plant that produced uniform blueberries.

December 3, 2011

Berries from the offspring from the cross between the Sooy and the Brooks grown here were harvested starting in 1916 and sold commercially. These berries were not uniform in taste, color or size. Among the offspring the Pioneer bush was selected because of its characteristics that were desirable to the grower and the consumer.

Click below on the Triangle Field to explore the birthplace of the domesticated high bush blueberry.

1921 Maintenance of Triangle Field

The birthplace of the domesticated high bush blueberry.

1921 Blueberry Culture
F. V. Coville

1923 July ---- Picking Blueberries in the Triangle Field with Miss Lizzy's Franklin in the background

The birthplace of the domesticated high bush blueberry.

Miss Lizzy's Franklin and the packing shelter are in the upper right hand corner of the picture.

In 1916 bushes grown from seed by F.V. Coville in greenhouses located in Washington D.C. produced a crop of blueberries that we're sold to the public. The parents of these bushes were the same species Vaccinium corymbosum, but from different States. One from down the road called the Sooy named after Zekel Sooy who found it and the other found by Coville called the Brooks after the owner of the farm where it was found. Click Here to meet Zekel Sooy.

1920. The Blueberry Packing Shed

1920 Development of the Cultivated Blueberry
Elizabeth C. White

1921 Triangle Field with the blueberry packing shed in the background.

The birthplace of the domesticated high bush blueberry.

1921 Blueberry Culture
F. V. Coville

Click Here to read about blueberry hybrids supplied to Alaska Experiment Station
by F.V. Coville.

Click Here to read about Blueberry Plants supplied to Washington Agriculture Experiment Station in 1922 by J.J. White Inc.

Elizabeth C. White and Frederick V. Coville evaluating high bush blueberry hybrid in the Triangle Field.

The birthplace of the domesticated high bush blueberry.

Rows are labeled with letters. The cheese cloth in the background shield the flowering blueberry plant from unwanted pollinators.

Click Here to read about Blueberry Culture as described by Elizabeth C. White in 1917.

Triangle Field with livestock in the background.

The birthplace of the domesticated high bush blueberry.

Beyond the open field is where Suningive, Elizabeth White's Home will be built in 1923.

Click Here to visit Suningive.

Ezekel Sooy house on Lakehurt Road

Blueberry Propagation at Whitesbog

Greenhouse











Click Here to Taming the Wild Blueberry Chronology

Blueberry Bushes from Washington D.C. arrive at Upton Station

Click Here to visit the Taming of the Wild Blueberry Chronology

Original Blueberry Test Field at Suningive

Click Here to see Taming the Wild Blueberry Chronology

Picking Blueberries in the Triangle Field at Whitesbog -----

Vintage 1923

The birthplace of the domesticated Blueberry is currently being restored by the Whitesbog Preservation Trust. When the restoration is complete Blueberry Festival visitors will be able to pick berries from heirloom highbush blueberries growing in the Triangle Field.








Click Here Taming the Wild Blueberry Chronology

Blueberry Propagation

1921 Blueberry Culture
F.V. Coville