400-Year-Old Grapevine Still Fuels North Carolina Wine

During a recent trip to the Outer Banks, a 200-mile-long string of barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina, my sons and I saw the mother of all grapevines.

The “Mother Vine,” as it is known, is estimated to be more than 400 years old. Believed to be the oldest cultivated grapevine in North America, it grows along the Roanoke Sound on North Carolina’s Roanoke Island. The island is where the first English settlers landed in July 1587 and later disappeared. The group — including the first English-born child in the new land, Virginia Dare — is still known as “The Lost Colony.”

It’s not known if Native Americans — likely the Croatan — or Lost Colony settlers planted the Scuppernong grapevine. Explorers saw grapevines growing in the area during Sir Walter Raleigh’s first expedition to the new world in 1584. There are records dating back to the 1720s of the area being covered in grapevines. Many have been lost to development, but the Mother Vine looms large on Mother Vine Road.

Still Growing Strong

Native to the state, Scuppernong grapes are North Carolina’s state fruit. A variety of Muscadine grape, the fruit is a bronze-green color and is used to make wine and other products. Cuttings from the Mother Vine were taken by a local winery, planted, and now the grapes are used to produce Mother Vine Wine.

I have been going to the Outer Banks since childhood, yet only learned of the vine’s existence after it was accidentally sprayed with a pesticide by the power company in 2010.  This year, I decided to go visit it.

Following my car’s GPS, I drove right by the house. Yes, the Mother Vine covers a good portion of the front lawn of a house in a residential section in Manteo. If it weren’t for the signs welcoming me to the vine, I would have missed it completely. I turned around and pulled into a paved parking lot that led to the vine, a well, and a path to the water’s edge. 

Support System

I’m not sure what I was expecting, but a vine that is tall enough for me to walk under wasn’t it. Its vines are supported by an ever-growing trellis, and if you peek under it, you’ll see the huge trunk with winding vines. The vines were full of bronze grapes, the color of a ripe Scuppernong. 

After seeing the vine, I wanted to learn how it ended up in someone’s front yard, so I searched for articles about its history. The Wilson family bought the land in 1957. At the time, the vine covered an acre or more. They cleared some of it to make way for their home and maintained the rest of the vine.

It was amazing to stand in the shade of a 400-year-old grapevine that has withstood development, hurricanes, pests, and other challenges over its lifetime, yet still has influence over today’s agriculture.