Elizabeth Coleman White

Birthdate: October 5, 1871
Death Date: November 11, 1954
NJ Town Affiliation: Whitesbog

Elizabeth Coleman White is best known for her work with the wild blueberry, but there was so much more to her than one berry.

Elizabeth was the oldest of four daughters born to Joseph Josiah “J.J.” and Mary Anne “Minnie” White, and was the one most interested in her father’s cranberry farm. As a child, Elizabeth was a frequent visitor to the cranberry bogs of both her father and grandfather absorbing all the information that she could, most importantly learning how to use ingenuity to grow a successful business while respecting workers.

In 1911 Elizabeth read a copy of a report written by scientist Dr. Frederick Coville who was conducting experiments on wild blueberry plants to see if they could be successfully cultivated. Elizabeth had taken an interest in the wild blueberry, which grew alongside the cranberry bogs, thinking perhaps it too could make the transition from wild plant to commercial crop. However, Elizabeth was uncertain what the plant needed in order to thrive and Coville had hit his own roadblock, lacking the space to expand his experiments. Each had something that the other needed, and they started working together in late 1911. With the help of local pickers they acquired the wild plants used to create the cultivated highbush blueberry, and after nearly five years of work introduced their first crop to the market in 1916.

Work continued on the blueberry throughout the 1920s and into the 30s, however by the late 1930s the blueberry was not the experimental work/play space that it had been, and Elizabeth went looking for a new project. She noticed that the American Holly was dwindling in the wild due to overuse, and began corresponding with Wilfred Wheeler who noticed the same thing in Cape Cod. They started working together in 1938, mailing cuttings back and forth, and even going on holly finding road trips, creating a stock of individual trees that would help to bring the American Holly back. Elizabeth started her own business in 1950, at the age 79, called Holly Haven Inc., which sold hollies, blueberries, and other acidic soil loving plants, to include the then, and still, extinct in the wild, franklinia, shipping their offerings nationwide.

Elizabeth Coleman White was a New Jersey farm girl, horticulturist, businesswoman, first woman member of the American Cranberry Association, and first
woman to receive a citation from the New Jersey Department of Agriculture. She loved the New Jersey Pinelands, gave us the cultivated blueberry, was committed to the conservation of native plants, and dedicated to the welfare of her workers. Elizabeth left an enduring legacy that is still felt today, and will be for years to come.

Quote

“I feel that plants are as clay in the hands of the potter shaped more here, or less there to bring all into peaceful harmony.” – Elizabeth Coleman White

Mailing Address
Whitesbog Preservation Trust
120 West Whitesbog Road #34
Browns Mills, New Jersey 08015