Why orchard in the desert? The founder of the brewery’s great grandfather (4) was Henderson Luelling. Henderson was a cultivator of many varietals of fruit. By 1835, Henderson and his brother John were jointly operating a nursery in Indiana. Around 1839, Henderson moved the family to Salem Iowa and continued the nursery business. While in Iowa, the family participated in the Underground Railroad.
A house still stands in Salem as part of the Underground Railroad and National Historical Site. In 1847, Henderson took a wagon of fruit trees and headed to Oregon on the Oregon Trail. The wagon consisted of approximately 700 trees and shrubs. Later that year, the family homesteaded and founded Milwaukie Oregon where he planted his “traveling orchard”. This was the first orchard on the west coast
In 1856, Henderson planted 400 acres 5 miles east of Oakland and named the new orchard Fruit Vale. California’s first apple and pear trees thrived there along with cherries and other pitted fruit. In some circles he is known as the father of the Pacific Northwest fruit industry. His brother Seth Lewelling, took over the orchard in Milwaukie in 1856 and later created what is known today as the Bing Cherry, Black Republican Cherry, and Lambert Cherry among others. Seth Klann, cousin, is currently operating Mecca Grade Growers and producing spring two row barley where the brewery in the future is planning on making estate beers with family grown ingredients.
