David Benscoter founded the Lost Apple Project, a nonprofit organization that searches abandoned farms and orchards in the Inland Pacific Northwest for old varieties. In the 1900s, about 20,000 known varieties of apples grew across North America. Now, there are less than half that number. Since 2014, he has found 29 different varieties that were previously thought to be extinct, some dating back to Grover Cleveland’s first presidency in the 1880s.

His presentation will cover his work saving these fruit varieties, and his book, “Lost Apples: The Search for Rare and Heritage Apples in the Pacific Northwest,” which is a catalogue of some of the apples he’s rediscovered and their interesting histories. Listen closely and you may hear what role the Museum’s own apple tree had in helping Benscoter’s continuous endeavour to save the rich tapestry that is apple agriculture.