Sweet Violets

The surprising story of the Violet Capital of the World Rhinebeck, New York In the Gilded Age and beyond, high fashion decreed that violets were the flower of choice for Valentine's Day, Easter, and a fragrant corsage. At its height, in the years before World War I, Rhinebeck, New York, growers shipped millions of sweet violets (viola odorata) to New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago and beyond. The history of Dutchess County violets includes the first commercial cultivars brought over after the Civil War by British brothers William and George Saltford, and the “Violet Kings” like Julius Vonder Linden, A.E. Coon and the Trombini Brothers. Dutchess County, New York, was known as the violet belt, and Rhinebeck was the buckle on the belt. At one time nearly 400 violet houses dotted Rhinebeck and surrounding villages supplying 25% of the U.S. violet crop. Cultivars like Marie Louise and Swanley White were very popular, and large fragrant corsages were the preferred flower for the H