Summary

In Part I, after Benjamin Honey escaped enslavement, he and his wife Patience arrived on an island in 1793. The details of the story were unclear. The island was “hardly three hundred feet across a channel from the mainland” (11, Harding’s italics). They were the only people on the “abandoned Penobscot” land (11, Harding’s italics). The island soon became his Eden. He planted seeds he had brought with him. Over time, Benjamin and Patience had many children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. After emancipation, anyone who was peaceful could join their community. Meanwhile, Benjamin’s seeds grew into apple orchards. They reminded Benjamin of his mother.

In 1911, Benjamin’s great-granddaughter Esther slept in her chair on Apple Island, her son Eha’s daughter Charlotte in her lap. Eha fed the fire with shingles from the relief society. The people did not need them as...