Sour Grapes

It's been a while since I've done a famous grave blip. I'm not sure how famous this guy is outside of the US (or outside of Concord, Mass., for that matter), but Ephraim W. Bull is the originator of the Concord grape, the American grape species used for pretty much all of the grape juice, communion wine, and grape jelly sold in the US.

According to Mr. Bull's obituary, he was credited, along with Emerson, Hawthorne, and Bronson Alcott with putting Concord on the map. (No mention of Thoreau in the obit, or of Louisa May Alcott, his neighbor who apparently got on Mr. Bull's nerves by jumping over his fence and pilfering his grapes. I think both are better known than either Bronson Alcott or Ephraim Bull.) Also as his obituary states, "he was never very popular with his neighbors, and they, in turn, were not much admired by him.... He was an educated chemist and physician and loved fruits and flowers, but had no patience or sympathy with people who wasted their time writing essays or stories or studying philosophy.... He took especial delight in telling visitors of the eccentricities of the Alcotts...."

According to Wikipedia, Ephraim Bull, after many years of developing the hardy Concord grape, sold each vine for about $5, but never saw a profit from all of his hard work. Interestingly, Welch's, the 'world's leading marketer of Concord grape products' is still based in Concord, Massachusetts, and I'm guessing they've been turning a profit for many years. Next to Mr. Bull's gravestone is a boulder with a plaque that reads "He Sowed Others Reaped." Sounds a bit like sour grapes to me. But then again, I just might be trampling on grapes of wrath if someone misspelled my name on the plaque next to my grave.