By Kenny Libben, CRF Museum Curator
The barn that now bears the Johnny Appleseed mural stands on land once belonging to the Rice family, early settlers of the Perrysville, Ohio area. Across the road from the barn is the former Rice family home, where Rosella Rice—author, journalist, and one of Johnny Appleseed’s best-known biographers—grew up. The Rice household was reportedly a frequent stop for John Chapman (“Johnny Appleseed”) during his travels through north-central Ohio; according to Rosella’s recollections, he sometimes slept on the family’s floor or in the barn during his visits.
The fields surrounding the Rice home and the present barn were part of a thriving network of apple orchards originally planted from Chapman’s own nurseries. Chapman operated numerous tree plots in the region and supplied settlers with apple seedlings—a requirement under the Northwest Ordinance that farms plant fifty apple trees and twenty peach trees to secure their claim. These orchards helped the frontier communities take root. Although the current barn was likely constructed after Chapman’s death in 1845, it occupies land steeped in this legacy of tree planting and settlement.
Today, the Rice family property and the barn mural serve as a tangible link to an era when apple trees symbolized both agriculture and settlement. They remind us of a man who planted more than orchards—he planted the seeds of community and rooted them in the soil of Ohio.