The History of Butternut Squash

Although many varieties of squash have been cultivated by Indigenous Peoples in North, Central, and South America for at least 6,000 years, butternut squash is a relative newcomer. It was created in Stow, Massachusetts in the 1940s by a man named Charles Leggett, who crossed a Gooseneck with other squash varieties. His goal was to create a squash that was smaller than a Hubbard variety and easier to prepare. Although Leggett wasn’t a farmer, he used the large amount of land that came with the home he purchased in the late 1930s to experiment when not working as an officer for the John Hancock Life Insurance Co. in nearby Boston. (The land is now owned by Stow’s Butternut Farm Golf Course.) After creating his squash, which he described as “smooth as butter and sweet as a nut” (hence the name), Leggett brought it to the Waltham Field Station and Robert E. Young, a professor at Massachusetts College of Agriculture (now UMass Amherst) worked with his squash to create the Waltham Butternut Squash. By 1944, several farmers in Massachusetts had stopped growing the popular Blue Hubbard Squash in favor of the Waltham Butternut Squash. Not only did the new squash spread throughout the United States, but it was also imported to other countries, including New Zealand, where it is known as Butternut Pumpkin, and South Africa, where it is used to make a popular soup. In America, it is used to make a wide variety of savory and sweet dishes. In the U.S., it grown primarily in Florida, Michigan, New York, and California, but is also still cultivated in its birthplace of Massachusetts. Today, butternut squash is a beloved vegetable both in the U.S. and around the world.