There once was a watermelon so sweet, so juicy and so delicious that people were willing to risk their lives \u2014 some even died! \u2014 in an attempt to get their hands on one.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the legend of the Bradford watermelon, which was grown many, many years ago in the great state of Georgia. The very entertaining animated video below explains how the Bradford watermelon came into existence and how men really did die while trying to steal them, or even while picking them in their own gardens.<\/p>\n
The abridged version of the tale goes something like this:<\/p>\n
In 1783, a Georgia military officer by the name of John Lawson spent some time on a prison ship in the West Indies while fighting in the American Revolutionary War. While he was imprisoned, he was fed some of the most delicious watermelon he\u2019d ever tasted. He quietly saved every seed and, when he returned to Georgia, he grew them into the sweetest watermelon the South had ever known.<\/p>\n
Lawson was extremely protective of the seeds produced by these watermelon, and he only gave the seeds to two other people. One of those people was Nathaniel Bradford.<\/p>\n
Long story short, people who grew Bradford watermelons went to great lengths to defend their crop from thieves. I\u2019m talking about armed guards and even using \u201celectric watermelons\u201d to keep intruders at bay. Check out the video below to learn more about those tactics and how those methods sometimes backfired on the wrong people.<\/p>\n
So, where is the Bradford watermelon today? Stay tuned for another blog entry with the answer to that question later this month!<\/p>\n