The Masters Peachy History

That spot in Augusta holds a special place in Georgia history even before there was a golf course.

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Every April, the golfing world descends on the greatest state in the greatest country on the planet to watch The Masters at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Those fortunate souls to land tickets (or have connections) will certainly stand in awe of the emerald greens, blooming azaleas, and cheap pimento cheese sandwiches. They will bask in the solemn silence that precedes a shot and feel the exuberant roar of the crowd when a shot of a lifetime happens.

All the while, going unnoticed by most spectators, one name will be ever present: Berckmans. Whether its Berckmans Road (or Old Berkmans Road) just outside the course or Berckmans Place- the most exclusive hospitality venue on site, this Belgian name silently overlooks golf’s most sacred grounds as it has, it turns out, for almost two centuries. A name that is central to the Peach State, including why it’s known as the Peach State at all.

Prior to the Civil War, agriculture in the South meant cotton. Short staple, or upland cotton, took hold and thrived in the southern piedmont region. So much so that by 1860 the South produced 70% of the world’s cotton. While this meant prosperity for cotton plantation owners, there were southern agricultural reformists, such as Berckmans, who were worried about the South’s reliance on cotton and slavery.

Cotton planters were notorious for destroying forests in order to plant cotton, using up all of the soil nutrients, and then ultimately moving further west, abandoning their farms in the process. This destruction of the South’s most valuable resource, its land, was viewed by many reformers as the necessary consequence of the moral degradation that slavery brought with it.

The argument went:

-Slavery made white planters lazy and disincentivized them from cultivating their land properly.

-This lack of proper land cultivation led to soil exhaustion.

-This soil exhaustion led to constant mobility from white families as they migrated west for more fertile fields.

Southern agricultural reformists wanted to move the South’s agricultural industry in a more sophisticated direction, but, in order to do that, the reformists would have to address the issue of slavery- something none of them were willing to do.

Then, the Civil War addressed the issue of slavery for the South by eliminating it and reordered the southern economy in the process leaving Southerners facing the question of “now what?” What would the postbellum South look like? Prosper Jules Alphonse Berckmans, an aristocratic Belgian immigrant, was determined to help shape that future.

Prosper Jules Alphonse Berckmans was born in Belgian and immigrated to the United States in the middle of the 19th century. Upon arrival, Berckmans bounced around some before ultimately settling in Augusta, Georgia. Bringing with him a wealth of European horticultural knowledge, particularly in pear cultivation, and a dream of transforming the South, Berckmans managed Fruitland Nurseries in Augusta- soon to become one of the most influential horticultural enterprises in the country.

Under Berckmans management, Fruitland became a remarkably productive place. According to Dr. Thomas Oakie at Kennesaw State University, in 1878, “Berckmans exhibited thirty-nine varieties of apple, forty-five of pear, twenty-two of peaches – the Committee on Peaches and Miscellaneous Fruits made ‘special mention’ of Pullen’s Seedling and White Pine Apple Cling – fourteen of grape, two of plums, and one of cobnuts (hazelnuts).”

But what set Berckmans apart wasn’t just his vast collection of fruits. He was a visionary, advocating for the use of scientific methods to improve agriculture. His nursery wasn’t just a place for growing; it was a testing ground, a place to experiment with how different soils, climates, and aspects of land could influence fruit production. In many ways, Fruitland became an “outpost of European horticulture,” bringing the best of European agricultural practices to the American South.

And Berckmans’s work didn’t stop with cultivation. He also emphasized the importance of community and education in transforming Southern agriculture. Alongside other like-minded individuals, such as Dennis Redmon—the editor of the Southern Cultivator—Berckmans helped establish the Georgia State Horticultural Society (GSHS). This organization was a crucial part of the South’s agricultural revolution. The GSHS encouraged farmers to embrace progressive techniques, with a particular emphasis on fruit growing. In fact, Berckmans believed that fruit farming could do more than just increase income for Georgia’s farmers—it could bring a “refining influence” to their lives and communities.

Many of the southern agricultural reformers, like Berckmans, were desperate for the South to have a new image. It needed something that could stand in contrast to the tarnished reputation left by the legacy of cotton plantations and slavery. Fruit farming, they believed, was the solution.

To Berckmans, fruit farming required a level of sophistication and dedication to the land that was unheard of in cotton production. Gone were the brutal days of slave-reliant cotton production and in were the elevated practices that inevitably accompanied the cultured vocation of fruit farming- at least, theoretically.

Through a series of other events and individuals (The Georgia Peach by William Thomas Oakie tells this story excellently), the peach became the perfect emblem of the New South that they wished to promote—beautiful, refined, and progressive. The promotion of the fruit offered the chance to reshape Georgia’s identity, providing a fresh start and a symbol of the South’s agricultural potential and gentility.

Georgia became the Peach State, not as an accident of history, but rather through the intentional effort of men like Berckmans to promote a new image of the South.

What does all of this have to do with The Masters?

This Augusta Chronicle report helps fill in the gaps,

In 1853, Dennis Redmond purchased the 315-acre property and named it Fruitland. He grew peaches, grapes, strawberries, apples and many other species of trees and shrubs. Mr. Redmond even started building a large house that he named Fruitland Manor. In 1857, the father and son team of Belgium immigrants, Louis and Prosper Berckmans, moved to Augusta and purchased a 50% stake in Fruitland. One year later the Berckmans became 100% owners of the nursery and purchased some surrounding land to expand. They also finished construction of Fruitland Manor. This was the beginning of the Fruitland Nurseries, and the Fruitland Manor is the current clubhouse for the Augusta National Golf Club.

Augusta National Golf Club sits on the grounds of what was once Fruitland Nurseries- the nursery that became the center of Berckmans’ peach operations in Georgia, and thus, the efforts to promote Georgia’s new image as the Peach State.

So, this weekend, as you’re enjoying The Masters, maybe just take a second to remember a certain Belgian immigrant who has seemingly been lost in Georgia history but whose legacy has not been. Perhaps, you can do so while enjoying a nice Georgia peach.

God Bless,

Hunter Burnett