Apple Tree Root
In 1860, a group of men attempted to exhume what was left of Roger Williams’ body. They dug into the back part of Roger Williams’s home lot near the corner of Benefit and Bowen Streets in Providence. They were surprised to find not a skeleton, but the root of an apple tree that sort of looked like a torso and legs. They believed that the apple tree had been nourished by Williams’ decaying body. The men donated the root to the Rhode Island Historical Society to keep it safe. From then on, it has been known as “The Root that Ate Roger Williams.” The Root is currently on view at the John Brown House Museum in Providence.
Close Looking Questions:
What do you notice first?
Why might people have thought that this root looked like a person’s body? Do you agree or disagree?
Roger Williams’ Legacy
Essay by Ann Daly, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of History, Mississippi State University
In 1860, the City of Providence dug up Roger Williams’s grave to create a park in his memory. Almost sixty years later, a person named Henry T. Arnold, who saw this happen, wrote about it in a letter to the Rhode Island Historical Society. Arnold mentioned that there was an apple tree between Williams’ grave and the house. In the open grave, there was a root from the apple tree that looked like the same shape as the body of Roger Williams. People believed the tree fed off his body, making Williams a part of the earth and the tree.
The root we see now is the same one Arnold saw over 150 years ago. While it kind of looks like the spine and legs of a body, tree experts say that is not how tree roots feed. So, why is this story important? Williams died in 1683, but people in Rhode Island remember him. The story of the root is part of a bigger legend. The root was seen as proof of Williams’ life and character. Like many stories about our country’s beginnings, it made people think those who did important things were almost superhuman.
Even though Williams died a long time ago, the story kept Rhode Island’s exceptional place in history alive. The root connected to the idea of purity and honesty. The apple tree symbolized New England, and Roger Williams represented Rhode Island and America to those who wanted to keep his dreams of liberty and freedom alive. Even if Rhode Island did not always live up to its founder’s ideals of liberty and freedom, the root reminded people that it was meant to be a place of equality.
Terms:
Exhume: to dig out something buried in the ground
Reading Comprehension Questions:
1) Why do people think that the root “ate” Roger Williams?
2) What does the apple tree root represent to the people of Rhode Island?
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