Apples

Symbolic of the forbidden fruit in Eden, the apples in the story appear often. Sam, Joley and Hadley tend and harvest the fruit on one of the few profitable orchards in Massachusetts. Jane and Sam argue about apple farming. Joley grafts branches from one kind of apple tree to another. The orchard grows many varieties: Astrachan, Cortland, Red Delicious, Puritan, Bellflower, Macoun, Jonathan, Golden Delicious, Gravensteins, Miltons, McIntosh, Bottle Greening and others. In Chapter 18, Joley tells Sam that Jane used to be an Astrachan before she met Oliver, now she's a crab apple. When the Joneses leave the orchard, they are given bushels of apples to remind them of the place where they found true love.

Arlo van Cleeb's Farm

Near What Cheer, Iowa, the van Cleeb farm is famous for being the site of the September 21, 1978 crash of Midwest Airlines Flight 997. Rebecca Jones was a toddler...