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First cultivated blueberry crop in US, by Elizabeth Coleman White of Whitesbog, NJ
When it comes to cultivating blueberries for the commercial market, Elizabeth Coleman White is the undisputed queen. Working with Frederick Vernon Coville of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, White grew and harvested the first crop of cultivated blueberries in 1916 on her family’s cranberry farm in Whitesbog. That’s the first cultivated crop in the United States and most likely the rest of the world.
White was not an unlettered woman. After graduating from the Friends Central School in Philadelphia, she went to work in the bogs helping supervise cranberry pickers at her father’s farm. She continued her education during winter months, taking courses in first aid, photography, and millinery among other subjects at Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry (now Drexel University).